LUCAS SHOWS THEM!

In 1936, it was brought to the attention of attorney William V. Banks that Black residents were being denied entry into the Brennan Pools. White staff at the pools were denying entry by falsely claiming that Black swimmers all had athlete’s foot. Mr. Banks went to the pools himself and paid to enter the pools. A white staff member named John Holly denied him entry claiming that he had athlete’s foot and gave him a brass check so that he could receive a refund. He kept the brass check as proof of his rejection and wrote an open letter to the commission of Parks and Boulevards, Henry W. Busch, that was printed in the Detroit Tribune. William V. Banks, a prominent labor lawyer who was head of the Detroit arm of the International Labor Defense at the time, went on to become a minister in 1949 and later become the founder of the United States’ first Black-owned and operated television station, WGPR-TV 62, and its sister radio station, WGPR-FM.

Two years later, 17-year-old Mitchell Lucas was making headlines by winning swim meets representing Detroit in Cleveland and Toledo and winning the city-wide high school swimming tournament in 1939 – the first Black athlete to win since 1925. He planned to compete in the upcoming Eastwood Park Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) swim meet where four national titles were at stake. He made a personal visit to the head of the AAU, Charles Brennan, to request an entry form.

According to a Michigan Chronicle article of June 17, 1939, Brennan told Lucas that the swim meet was not open to “colored talent” and that “it’s one of those things you can’t get around.” The Michigan Chronicle Athletic Association responded with a letter to Mr. Brennan asking for an explanation, and the NAACP began an investigation. Brennan claimed that it was the Eastwood Park authorities who refused to allow Blacks at the meet, not the AAU. However, the Detroit News had sponsored a meet at Eastwood the previous year that welcomed Black swimmers. Brennan agreed to cooperate and two months later, on Aug. 10, Mitchell Lucas won the breaststroke title at the Metropolitan Swim Meet at Rouge Park, and another Black swimmer, Carl Edwards, set an all-time point record. The Michigan Chronicle published their photos in their paper afterwards with the headline, “LUCAS SHOWS THEM!” ​