Percy High and City Recreation Director Jimmy Chambers

6 August 1962, Percy High is seen exiting the Pullen Park Pool as City Recreation Director Jimmy Chambers looks on.
This photo is part of an exhibit at the Raleigh City Museum, Raleigh, North Carolina.

On that hot afternoon a group of six young men, four black men and two white men, decided to take a swim at Pullen Park Pool. For 40 minutes the youths swam and while 45 persons got out in response to their presence, 65 (mainly children) remained in the pool. The protestors were told repeatedly to get out and when they refused, Pullen Park employees closed the pool early for the day. The protestors then exited the pool quietly, returned to their lockers and left.

The protest happened only a few hours before City Council was to meet for their scheduled session. During the session, Council voted 5-2 to close both Pullen and Chavis Pools. Pullen for a limited, but undetermined, amount of time, and Chavis permanently (citing low attendance).

The leader of the group, Percy High (pictured), was a Shaw University ministerial student and member of the NAACP. High explained to a reporter, "We didn't come here to integrate the pool. We came here to swim. We were riding around, it was hot and we decided we wanted to go swimming. We had the money in our pockets, so we got the tickets."

Both pools eventually re-opened and were not filled in with concrete as some attest. More research is needed on how long they were closed.

High went on to graduate from Shaw and served for more than 34 years as the pastor for Mt. Vernon Baptist Church in Durham and is now known as Reverend Dr. Percy High.