phone, telling me that her child had drowned at five o'clock at Lincoln Woods.

- [Narrator] It was the early 90s, and Ray Rickman was a Rhode Island state representative.

- And the coroner had his body and would not release it.

She was Islamic, and I know enough about religion to know you're supposed to be buried within 24 hours.

I called the coroner and he wouldn't release the body.

In fact, he hung up on me.

And I walked over to the Capitol, two blocks, saw the governor without appointment, and said, "Governor Sundlun, I need you to get this done."

- [Narrator] Rickman was able to get the teenage boy's body released, but he couldn't forget this mother's pain.

- She watched her son drown.

She could not swim.

Can you imagine?

You can't imagine.

- In the United States, an average of 11 people are drowning every day.

So we're losing 4,000 people a year to drowning.

It's the leading cause of death for children from one to four.

- [Narrator] Mara Gay was an avid swimmer growing up.

Today, she's on the "New York Times" editorial board.

- Drowning is something that affects Americans of all backgrounds, however, it does disproportionately affect minorities, and in particular, Black and Native communities.

- [Narrator] According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black children are 1.5 times more likely and Native American children are two times more likely than white children to die of drowning.

Gay says, for African Americans, the gap is rooted in history.

- It goes really deep.

So Black Americans, many people know we were not allowed to learn how to read during slavery.

Many times, they also weren't allowed to learn how to swim, and that's because it would've made it easier to escape to freedom.

Dogs couldn't track your scent in water, which was known among enslaved Americans.

During segregation, you had public pools that were not open to Black Americans.

- [Narrator] And after segregation, many Black Americans were still unwelcome.

Storyteller V. Raffini grew up in Rhode Island.

- We were like around 9, 10.

This was '68, '69.

Pools weren't segregated, but they were racist.

And when we got there, we dealt with the racism.

We've had our lunches stolen, we've had them smashed, spit on our food and leave it, so you could see this.

I can remember them calling us names like the Walking Tootsie Roll, or there's a Hershey bar in the pool.

And you know, all straight-out coming out with the N word.

It was shocking to us and it hurt our feelings, but it also made us angry.

So we end up getting into fights at the pool and getting kicked out of the pool, and you know, not able to come back for that summer.

- [Narrator] Intimidation wasn't the only way African Americans were driven out of pools.

- Many communities across the south, but also elsewhere unfortunately, chose to fill in, destroy, or close their public pools, rather than allow Black Americans to swim in them.

So white wealthier Americans who were able to started forming their own clubs, their own neighborhood associations that were of course segregated, and the rest of America was shut out.

You would never take similarly your child and put them in a car without a car seat, and yet, we find it completely acceptable in American society to allow generations and millions of children to grow up without learning how to swim or be safe around the water.

- [Narrator] In Rhode Island, multiple generations of the Willis family are working to reverse that trend through their business, Orca Aquatics.

Wayne Willis- - Two more 25s, just focus in.

- [Narrator] And his son, Dylan- - 1, 2, 3, 4.

- [Narrator] Coach the swim team- - Four, one- - Wayne's daughter, Sydney, and wife, Joanna, teach lessons and his sister, Leslie, manages arriving families.

Some of their students are able to learn for free, thanks to Ray Rickman.

- Our number one goal is to teach now low-income children to swim and to avoid drowning.

- [Narrator] He started a program called Swim Empowerment to sponsor swim lessons for Black and low-income youth.

It was a promise to a heartbroken mother.

- This is my commitment to her.

- [Narrator] He raises money for the effort at his bookstore and museum, Stages of Freedom.

- Here's first edition, "A Story of Race and Inheritance."

It is autographed by Barack Obama and the last one sold for 4,200.

When you get 5,000 bucks, that's 50 kids learning how to swim from one book.

You go, "Are you kidding me?"

- [Narrator] 2,600 children have learned to swim through his program so far.

Some go to Orca Aquatics, others to the YMCA, but lessons are only the beginning.

- I have these 5-year-old Black kids say to me, "Okay, Mr. Rickman, will you pay for me to join the Y now?

"Those five people I was swimming with, "they're all joining the Y next week, can you pay for me?"

I say, "No, I don't have the money."

- I've spent a lot of time calling for more free swim lessons.

I believe firmly that that's a part of the solution.

But what I've found is actually that the reason so many Americans can't swim is because they don't have safe places to learn to do so.

Public pools are the critical piece of this puzzle.

So it would be the equivalent of calling for education for all Americans without having any schools.

- [Narrator] Orca Aquatics has felt that squeeze.

In August, a chlorine explosion occurred at the North Providence Pool, closing the facilities where they usually ran programs.

For weeks, they called countless pools across the state and were repeatedly turned away.

Until the problem is fixed, they're practicing at Rhode Island College's pool, but have had to cut back swim lessons from seven days a week to three.

The shortage of pools has inspired Ray Rickman to pursue a new dream.

- And we're doing the first draft of a proposal to build a $20 million Olympic plus swimming pool for the people of Providence to come free to swim.

And again, I told you it's for everybody, the richest people on the east side and the lowest income folks from Silver Lake.

And we're gonna get it done.

- [Narrator] The next steps, Ray Rickman needs to get Rhode Island Senate President and Speaker of the House on board so that the pool can eventually be added to the state budget.

- Swimming is one of the most exciting things you can do.

You don't know that until you do it.

That's what I hope for this whole community.

- Up next, last September, we introduced you