Dive into 'Black Folk Don’t…Swim' Celebrating Black Swimmers Ahead of Paris Olympics

Ahead of the Summer Olympics in Paris starting on July 26 and in honor of the USA’s swim team, Black Public Media is diving back into the water with Black Folk Don’t…Swim. This short film, part of the earlier, irreverent series Black Folk Don’t (featured in Time Magazine’s “10 Ideas That Are Changing Your Life”), humorously examines some of the biggest myths and stereotypes about Black people and is coming to Black Public Media’s AfroPoP Digital Shorts.

Photo byImage provided by Black Public Media

The film is now streaming for free on the Black Public Media YouTube channel.

Featuring writer, television personality, and podcaster Touré and writer, educator, and media figure Melissa Harris Perry, Black Folk Don’t…Swim explores whether Black people have embraced the aquatic sport. With Black swimmers Simone Manuel and Shaine Casas competing in this year’s Olympics — and Anthony Nesty becoming the first Black U.S. head swimming coach, leading the men’s team — the answer might be a resounding yes!

This topic is crucial because up to 70 percent of Black people do not know how to swim, and Black children ages 5 to 19 drown in pools at 5.5 times the rate of white children.

Black Folk Don’t…Swim was directed by Angela Tucker, an Emmy and Webby award-winning filmmaker working in both scripted and unscripted film and television. Her recent work includes Belly of the Beast (director Erica Cohen), a New York Times critics' pick; The Trees Remember, a Webby-winning branded series in collaboration with REI Co-Op Studios; and A New Orleans Noel, a Lifetime holiday film starring Patti LaBelle. Her newest film, The Inquisitor, about political icon Barbara Jordan, will be broadcast on PBS. She is a Sundance Institute Women's Fellow, a recipient of Firelight’s William Greaves Fund, and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The founder of TuckerGurl Inc, a boutique production company, she is passionate about stories that highlight underrepresented communities in unconventional ways.

Black Public Media is a Harlem-based national nonprofit that has funded and distributed films about the Black experience since 1979.