Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Family Swimming Legacy: Skills for Life, Passed Across Generations
MLK Day Author: Swim Strong Foundation
When we remember Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we often focus on his speeches, his marches, and his transformative impact on civil rights. But there’s another part of his story that speaks directly to families today—his deliberate commitment to swimming with his children and passing water confidence from one generation to the next.
From his childhood lessons at the Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta to teaching his own children, Dr. King understood that swimming wasn’t just recreation—it was family connection, life-saving skills, and ensuring future generations would have the access he fought to secure.
At Swim Strong Foundation, we honor this multigenerational vision by working to ensure that all families can access swimming instruction and water safety knowledge.
Childhood Access: Learning at Butler Street YMCA
Young Martin Luther King Jr. learned to swim at the historic Butler Street YMCA in Atlanta, just a 13-minute walk from his childhood home. During the Jim Crow era, when most public pools explicitly excluded Black residents, the Butler Street YMCA—known as “Black City Hall of Atlanta”—provided one of the few safe spaces where Black children could learn to swim.
As the YMCA of Snohomish County documents: “As a boy, he learned to swim at the historic Butler Street YMCA in his hometown of Atlanta, GA.”[^1]
The YMCA of Greater Tulsa confirms: “As a boy, Martin learned to swim at the Y in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia.”[^2]
Swimming World Magazine recognized in their 2018 tribute: “The right to swim was important to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was an activity he enjoyed doing with his family at the Butler St YMCA in Atlanta – which was known then as a Y for colored people.”[^3]
This early access shaped Dr. King’s entire life. He carried these skills into adulthood, prioritized them for his own children, and fought for swimming rights as part of the broader civil rights struggle.
Making Time for Family: Swimming as Love
Despite leading a movement that demanded constant travel and facing persistent threats, Dr. King deliberately set aside time to swim with his children. This was a choice.
In a 1985 Atlanta Magazine interview, Coretta Scott King recalled:
“Although Dr. King spent much of his time traveling, he was very close to his children. ‘Martin always set aside time for family outings,’ Mrs. King remembers. ‘We’d go bowling, we’d swim in Herman Russell’s indoor pool and we’d attend the annual Southeastern Fair. He was able to convey to the children that they were a priority…They always felt that Daddy loved them.'”[^4]
Martin Luther King III remembered “taking swimming class at a local pool” with his father and how “when he came home from battling racism, King’s serious expression would change to smiles and he would become playful.”[^5]
Dr. King’s daughter Yolanda King, when asked what she remembered most about her father, simply said: she would “play and swim with him.”[^6]
Swimming as Philosophy: How He Understood Learning
Dr. King’s comfort with swimming shaped how he thought about learning and transformation. In a 1957 interview about Ghana’s independence, he spontaneously used a swimming metaphor:
“I often feel like saying, when I hear the question ‘People aren’t ready,’ that it’s like telling a person who is trying to swim, ‘Don’t jump in that water until you learn how to swim.’ When actually you will never learn how to swim until you get in the water. And I think people have to have an opportunity to develop themselves and govern themselves.”[^7]
This wasn’t abstract. This was how Dr. King actually understood transformation—through the embodied experience of swimming. You don’t wait for perfect conditions. You get in the water. You learn by doing.
This philosophy applies powerfully to water safety today. Families need access, instruction, and the opportunity to develop skills together—passing confidence from one generation to the next. From childhood learning to family joy to political action, Dr. King understood that access to swimming wasn’t just about recreation—it was about dignity, safety, and the fundamental question of who gets to be safe in water.
The Unfinished Work: Disparities That Persist Today
More than 60 years after the Civil Rights Act, profound swimming disparities persist.
The Statistics Demand Action
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- Black children ages 5-14 drown at rates 2.6–3.6 times higher than white children
- Black children ages 10-14 drown in swimming pools at rates up to 7.6 times higher
- These disparities are directly linked to limited access to swim instruction and lower swim proficiency[^8]
These represent families who don’t have the access Dr. King fought to secure. These represent generations who haven’t been able to pass on water confidence. These represent a preventable cycle that continues because of barriers to affordable swimming instruction.
Continuing Dr. King’s Swimming Legacy: Our Multigenerational Mission
At Swim Strong Foundation, we continue Dr. King’s work by ensuring families across all generations can access swimming instruction and water safety education—regardless of economic circumstances or neighborhood.
Our Dual Approach: Skills + Situational Awareness
In-Pool Swimming Instruction
- Teaching technical swimming skills across all levels
- Building water confidence through guided practice
- Creating positive water experiences for entire families
Situational Water Safety Training: “Know Before You Go”
- Environmental hazard recognition curriculum
- Students learn to identify water risks in pools, beaches, rivers, lakes, and everyday environments
- Families learn to assess water hazards together, passing on critical knowledge across generations
- Available for only $5 per student and can be brought to your local school
Our Impact
- 121,000+ students served over 19 years
- Zero drowning incidents among participants
- Five NYC school locations: River East Elementary (Manhattan), Bushwick HS Campus, Jamaica Educational Campus, James Madison High School, Far Rockaway HS Campus (Pool Under Construction)
We Need Your Help: 2025 Funding Gap
In 2025, a prepared superintendent wanted all of his students to receive our life-saving “Know Before You Go” situational water safety tutorial. We said yes immediately—because that’s exactly the kind of commitment Dr. King would have championed.
But we still need help closing the funding gap from that response.
When a school leader steps forward ready to protect every child in their district, we don’t hesitate. We deliver. Now we’re asking you to help us complete that mission.
Legislative Work: Making Water Safety Universal
Dr. King understood that real change requires both grassroots action and systemic policy. Following his example, Swim Strong Foundation is working on legislative initiatives to ensure swimming and water safety knowledge reach all children.
We’re advocating for:
- Swimming instruction as part of standard school physical education curricula
- Universal water safety education requirements in NYC schools
- State-level legislation recognizing drowning prevention as a public health priority
- Policies ensuring all children receive water safety instruction before encountering water hazards
Living in Peace: Dr. King’s Vision Realized
Dr. King envisioned a society where children of all backgrounds would have equal opportunities and families could live in peace without preventable tragedies.
Water safety embodies this vision. When all children learn to swim and understand water hazards:
- Families enjoy water recreation without fear
- Racial disparities in drowning rates disappear
- Generations pass on life-saving skills
- We create the peaceful coexistence Dr. King envisioned
How You Can Continue Dr. King’s Swimming Legacy
Donate to Close the 2025 Funding Gap
Help us complete the mission we started when that superintendent asked us to reach every student in his district with life-saving water safety education.
Donate Now
Volunteer Your Time
- Teach swimming (certified lifeguards/instructors)
- Support operations and registration
- Community outreach to schools and families
- Event support and fundraising assistance
Volunteer
Bring “Know Before You Go” to Your School
Our situational water safety curriculum is available for only $5 per student. Contact us to schedule this life-saving tutorial for your school or community organization.
Learn More: Know Before You Go!
Partner with Us
Organizations, schools, and businesses can sponsor programs, provide facilities, or support legislative advocacy.
Partnership Info
Conclusion: The Right to Swim Lives Through Families
When Coretta Scott King remembered her husband swimming with their children, when Martin Luther King III recalled taking swimming classes with his father, when Yolanda King simply said she would “play and swim with him”—these weren’t minor details. These were expressions of love and the passing of life-saving skills across generations.
This is Dr. King’s swimming legacy: ensuring all families, across all generations, can experience the joy, connection, and life-saving skills that swimming provides.
Swimming World Magazine recognized: “The right to swim was important to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was an activity he enjoyed doing with his family at the Butler St YMCA in Atlanta.”[^3]
That right remains important today. It lives through families who learn together, communities that support each other, and advocates who work for systemic change.
Join us in continuing this legacy.
Take Action Today
Close the 2025 Funding Gap: [swimstrongfoundation.org/donate]
Volunteer: [swimstrongfoundation.org/volunteer]
Bring KBYG to Your School ($5/student): [swimstrongfoundation.org/kbyg]
Partner: [swimstrongfoundation.org/partner]
Social Media
Swim Strong Foundation Instagram: Swim Strong Foundation
Facebook: Swim Strong Foundation
LinkedIn: Swim Strong Foundation
Sources
[^2]: YMCA of Greater Tulsa. “The King and Y.”
[^6]: King, Yolanda. Interview on Eric J Chambers YouTube Channel
[^7]: King, Martin Luther, Jr. Interview with Etta Moten Barnett. Stanford King Institute Archives, 1957.
Swim Strong Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to ending unintentional drowning through swimming instruction and situational water safety education. Since 2006, we have served 121,000+ students across five NYC locations with zero drowning incidents among participants.
