c. 1928
James Van Der Zee Photograph Collection
Photo credit: James Van Der Zee

The beach has long been a place for leisure, and African American women claimed that enjoyment for themselves. In the 1920s, changing fashions and social attitudes made public displays of skin, confidence, and modern womanhood more acceptable than older generations might have imagined. Undaunted, these women meet beach life on their own terms: relaxed, stylish, playful, and fully present in the freedom of the day.

c. 1945
Lucile V. Hill Papers
Photo credit: Tuskegee Institute

Competitive swimming changes the meaning of the swimsuit. Here, it is not beachwear, fashion, or a costume for display; it belongs to training, skill, and athletic purpose. That purpose does not diminish softness; it widens it, allowing discipline, strength, and grace to exist in the same frame.

c. 1950s
General Photographs Collection
Photo credit: Unknown

Not every beach day announces itself loudly. Sometimes softness appears in the quiet pause between swims, when conversation, shade, and companionship matter as much as the water. This image invites us to consider leisure as a shared rhythm: women gathering near the shore, making room for rest, friendship, and time away from the demands of everyday life.

c. late 1950s
Harmon Perry Collection
Photo credit: Harmon Perry

The poolside portrait expands the language of beauty from stillness into play, performance, and warm-weather confidence. In the late 1950s, the swimsuit could be glamorous, sporty, flirtatious, and practical all at once, depending on the woman wearing it and the moment being made. Here, softness is not passive. It is bright, bodily, expressive, and fully at home beside the water.

c. 1960s
Harmon Perry Collection
Photo credit: Harmon Perry

Leisure has its own rhythm, and here it moves through charm, balance, and summer play. This image honors a kind of beauty that does not need stillness to be memorable; it stretches, smiles, poses, and enjoys the moment. In Softness Swims, the water becomes a stage for delight, where grace and playfulness meet in full sunlight.

c. 1960s
Harmon Perry Collection
Photo credit: Harmon Perry

By the 1960s, Black beauty was pressing further into mainstream public culture, including pageants, fashion, magazines, and performance spaces. In this setting, the swimsuit becomes part of that wider negotiation: not waterwear, but a pageant category shaped by poise, polish, and public appraisal. Her presence on a Ms. Georgia Universe stage marks a moment when Black women’s beauty could no longer be treated as private, local, or secondary.

c. early 1970s
Harmon Perry Collection
Photo credit: Harmon Perry

At the water’s edge, play becomes something shared across generations. A splash can be a lesson, a joke, an invitation, and a memory all at once. In Softness Swims, this image makes room for the lively side of softness: the laughter, trust, and freedom that gather around a girl learning how to enjoy the water.

1970–1979
Ann States Photo Collection
Photo credit: Ann States

The old myth that Black people “do not swim” disappears in images like this. These children are not strangers to the water; they are practicing, resting, comparing turns, and participating in a shared culture of swimming. Their presence pushes back gently but clearly, reminding us that skill, play, and belonging in the pool have long been part of Black childhood too.

1970–1979
Ann States Photo Collection
Photo credit: Ann States

By the 1970s, a large public pool could feel like an ordinary part of childhood, a place for lessons, splashing, and summer afternoons. Yet only a decade or so earlier, access to such spaces was far less assured for many Black children. This image holds that quiet shift: the freedom to sit at the edge, watch the water, and grow up believing that swimming belonged to them too.

c. late 1970s
Harmon Perry Collection
Photo credit: Harmon Perry

By the late 1970s, swimwear photography could hold glamour, approachability, and confidence in the same breath. This image speaks to a beauty culture increasingly shaped by Black women who smiled back at the camera with warmth and command, not distance. Her softness is not hidden or subdued; it is open, sunlit, stylish, and entirely at home in her own skin.