On this summer’s 100th anniversary of Monrovia Municipal Plunge, now home of the Monrovia Historical Museum, it was posted online that plunge doors opened in 1925 “for swimmers of all ages”. All ages: Yes. All colors: No.

From 1925 until 1949, the Monrovia Municipal Plunge enforced segregated swimming days limiting when people of color could use the pool.

Thirteen years after the Monrovia Municipal Plunge opened in 1925 with segregated swimming days, that segregation was challenged by a group led by my teenage father Félix Gutiérrez, President of the Monrovia Latin-American Youth Club and Pasadena Junior College student.

In the summer of 1938 club members presented a letter and speech urging the Monrovia City Council to end their pool segregation. This challenge and other Mexican Americans equal rights efforts are now displayed on a colorful monument on the sidewalk in front of the Monrovia Historical Museum, once the entrance to the Monrovia Municipal Plunge.