Nearly 100 years ago, Philadelphia’s Inez Patterson integrated pools and encouraged other Black girls to swim too

Many public pools were segregated until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Afro American Newspapers/Gado via Getty Images I first encountered her when my sister and I visited an exhibit at the Fairmount Water Works in 2022 that was called: “POOL: A Social History of Segregation.” In the black-and-white photograph, a young Black woman named Inez Robie Patterson appeared to be captured right before she dived off the side of a pool wall. Her triceps were flexed, arms straight back with palms facing the…