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Children’s television show host Fred Rogers led the way on breaking many barriers. One famous instance took place on an episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, when Rogers, a white man, dipped his feet in a wading pool alongside Francois Clemmons, a Black man. The episode, which aired in May 1969, broke color barriers at a time when Black people were barred from using swimming pools around the United States on account of their race. Civil unrest over segregated pools was also ongoing. That year, the Supreme Court ruled that pool access was a property right that could not be limited by race. Decades later, the following meme circulated online: Clemmons, who played Officer Clemmons on the show, was not a real police officer but an actor. During the episode, Clemmons visits Rogers in his neighborhood on a hot day, and Rogers invites him to dip his feet in a wading pool with him. Rogers also offers to share the same towel. The original clip from 1969 can be seen here at the 1:28 mark: The meme above shows a photograph from when the scene was recreated by Clemmons and Rogers more than two decades after the original pool scene: Clemmons reflected on the famous scene in an interview with WBUR's Here and Now: Given that the scene took place and broke color barriers during a time when seeing a Black person in a pool with a white person was a civil rights issue, but Clemmons himself was not a real police officer, we rate this claim as Mostly True.
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