Mississippi man unearths a rocky history.

A long-forgotten remnant of race relations in the South is buried throughout the region--pools that were once for whites only and later closed to quell fears of violent racism.

The New York Times reported that Meridian, Miss., businessman Gilbert Carmichael noticed something unusual sticking out of the ground in the nearby town of Stonewall. After realizing that it was the town's once-popular community pool, he committed himself to excavate it and reopen it. But this time, it will be dedicated to everyone. Using a bulldozer and a portion of his company's money, Carmichael is working to dig out the pool for it to reopen-charging only what it costs for its upkeep.

The pool was known as the center of the community before it was filled in when integration began here in the 1970s. The pool was closed because of fears that an integrated pool would be the site of violent racial tension. Members of the community recall it as a "tragic" event, but noted that no one stood up to stop it. They say that it was unheard of in the Deep South for blacks and whites to share a pool at that time.

Stonewall was hardly the only pool closed during this tumultuous period. Pools in Jackson, Miss., and New Orleans, La., were shut down for the same reasons. But many of them reopened by the mid-1970s. Others remain lost to history, but the Stonewall pool is a stark exception. It should reopen to the public next summer after more than a 30-year hiatus.