SWANK Incorporated 210 Park Avenue – Suite 2210 New York, New York, 10022
Dear Pool Owner:
May we take this opportunity to congratulate you on your swimming pool. Certainly many happy fun
filled days await you this summer.
We should all be as fortunate. As a member of your community, you must realize that there are, in
your area, large numbers of disadvantaged kids, who long to participate in water sports and sun
bathing but who simply do not have a chance to do so. By joining our organization, SWANK, you can do
something to help and at the same time make your community a better place to live.
SWANK (Swim with American Negro Kids) is a group of forward looking swimming pool owners who feel
that integration begins at home, specifically in their backyard pools. Our people have been very
successful in other parts of the country, and we are now expanding into your area. Upon your
agreement to participate in our program, small groups of Negro kids from ghettos and other selected
blighted areas will travel to your home on sunny days to join you and your family in activities
around and in your pool. We know you will feel fortunate to be able to extend a helping hand in this
matter. Transportation and bathing suits will be provided by SWANK and all we ask is that you supply
understanding, lunch and towels.
In a few days, a representative will call upon you at your home to ask your support, and to
ascertain the size of your pool and the ages of your kids, so that we can mage the congenial
arrangements. Generally, our representatives in other areas have been met with enthusiastic
agreement to join our program, although in a few cases it has been necessary for our people to
demonstrate against those who, because of negative thinking, have not agreed to become SWANK
members. You may have read or heard about our picketing program. We hope to avoid this in your area.
When you do join our group, you will receive at no cost, an attractive sign bearing our emblem,
which you will want to display with pride on your front door or lawn.
Yours for sunny weather and Negro kinship, Rev. Luther T. Stokely, Chariman Membership Committee