Earl Bynum - On learning to swim (clip)

Interviewed on April 16, 2026

Earl Bynum: But they knew that the little kids would just be going around the side of the pool. They knew they could dog paddle, so they’d catch you and grab you and they’d throw you out there in the middle and say you either swim or sink, but they knew you could swim a little bit. They were just trying to give you courage and I was one of those, they’d throw me out there in the pool, and I’m still here to tell the story today, so nobody drowned, you know what I mean, so it wasn’t all shining gleam. You know, we had some good times.

Oral history interview of Bynum, Earl on April 16, 2026 at St. Joseph CME Church Fellowship Hall, Chapel Hill, NC.

Citation: Marian Cheek Jackson Center, “Earl Bynum - On learning to swim (clip),” From the Rock Wall, accessed September 13, 2026, https://fromtherockwall.org/oral-histories/earl-bynum-on-learning-to-swim-clip.

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