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Woodside Park Water Ride

White children floating in a boat on a water ride in Woodside Park. We find no images of African American visitors in the historical collections. From its opening in 1926, four-acre Crystal Pool’s thinly veiled Whites-only membership policy and various subterfuges denied Blacks access to facilities that could accommodate 5,000 swimmers. Crystal Pool was integrated only after the City took control of its management in 1952. 

18 May 1950
Attribution/Credit

Photographer Dominic Pasquarella, Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia, PA