A.D. Clark Pool

The A.D. Clark Pool is a public swimming facility located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Opened in June 1961 at the Hargraves Community Center, Black residents established the pool in order to provide a safe and accessible swimming space for their community during the era of segregation. Adolphus D. Clark (A.D. Clark), the pool’s namesake and first president of the Chapel Hill NAACP, spearheaded these efforts, serving as president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Swimming Pool Association. Funds for the pool’s construction came from the Black community’s grassroots fundraising efforts and a $40,000 donation from Chapel Hill resident and former UNC librarian, Cornelia S. Love. Today, the A.D. Clark Pool is operated by the Town of Chapel Hill and continues to serve as a vital community resource, offering seasonal public swim times, lessons, and local events.

Prior to the construction of A.D. Clark Pool, the pools in Chapel Hill were segregated, leaving Black residents without a safe, public swimming facility to use. As a result, members of the Black community often swam in local creeks or swimming holes, which were frequently polluted by sewage. Swimmers encountered snakes as well, and these unsafe conditions ultimately led to fatalities from Typhoid infections and one reported snake bite. Some individuals traveled to Raleigh to swim at Pullen Park, a site 26 miles away from Chapel Hill. During this era of segregation, many Black community members protested their inability to access public swimming facilities in Chapel Hill. After being denied a university pool pass, Floyd McKissick, one of the first African-American law students at UNC Chapel Hill, jumped into the university’s pool fully clothed in protest. A separate group of Black youth brought a proposal to UNC’s Athletic Department, petitioning to have access to the pool for one day a month, after which they would drain and clean the pool themselves. They were directed up the chain of command, eventually meeting with UNC’s Chancellor R.B. House, at which point their efforts were effectively stalled. In 1960, the town began to invest more heavily in neighborhood recreation infrastructure and maintenance. Capitali

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