Startling statistics from a study done by the University of Memphis and USA Swimming have been reported: about 68.9 percent of African American children are unable to adequately swim, compared to 40 percent of white children with low swimming skills. While the disproportionate rates of swimming skills can be traced to early 20th-century segregation, the question of why this disparity persists in 2010 remains unanswered. Jeff Wiltse, author of Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America provides explanations to the problem by going back in history and analyzing the origins and shifts...