June 18, 1964: James Brock pours muriatic acid into pool to get protestors out
Rarehistoricalphotos.com takes us on a walk down memory lane to a time so long ago the photography is in black and white. In the photo series a middle-aged white man in sunglasses is seen running around a pool filled with both black and white people, pouring something in it from bottle. The substance is muriatic acid and the people are integrationist protestors, staging a pool-in.
On June 11, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr was arrested for trespassing at the Monson Motor Lodge after being asked to leave from its segregated restaurant. This (and other things) helped spurn on a group of protesters, black and white, to jump into the pool as a strategically planned event to end segregation at motel pools. The pool at this motel was designated “white only.” Whites who paid for motel rooms invited blacks to join them in the motel pool as their guests. This swim-in was planned by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and two associates. The motel manager, Jimmy Brock, in an effort to break up the party, poured a bottle of muriatic acid into the pool, hoping the swimmers would become scared and leave. One swimmer, who knew that the ratio of acid to pool water was so great that the acid was no longer a threat, drank some of the pool water to calm the other swimmers’ fears.
A police officer jumped into the pool to arrest the protestors. No guns were involved. It's good to see that things have changed.