Corhonda Dawson is doing something that very few Black women from Memphis — or anywhere in the country — have ever done. The Memphis native has become a certified scuba diver, placing herself in a space where Black women are rarely seen and even more rarely celebrated. What makes her story even more powerful is where it started: with a young woman who, by her own admission, never imagined accomplishing something like this. Today, she is not just diving beneath the surface of the water — she is diving headfirst into history.
Her achievement is being recognized during Black History Month, a fitting time to spotlight a story that is about so much more than a sport. Dawson’s journey speaks to the power of stepping into the unknown, pushing past the boundaries that society — and sometimes our own minds — places on us. And for the young Black girls and boys watching her, the message is clear: the world is bigger than what you have been shown, and there is room for you in every corner of it.
A Rare Accomplishment: Why There Are So Few Black Female Scuba Divers
To understand just how significant Corhonda Dawson’s achievement is, it helps to understand the landscape she stepped into. Black women are dramatically underrepresented in scuba diving, both locally in Memphis and nationally. The sport has historically been inaccessible to Black communities for a range of reasons — from the lack of swimming programs in predominantly Black neighborhoods to the financial cost of certification and equipment, to a cultural disconnect that has kept the underwater world feeling like someone else’s adventure.
Studies and surveys within the diving community have long pointed to a stark racial gap in participation. Black Americans make up a small fraction of certified divers in the United States, and Black women represent an even smaller slice of that number. For Dawson to not only get certified but to embrace the sport as her own is, therefore, an act of quiet defiance as much as personal achievement.
Her story also shines a light on a conversation that the diving and water sports communities are beginning to have more openly — about access, representation, and what it means to truly welcome everyone into these spaces. Dawson’s presence in the water is a step toward changing a narrative that has excluded Black women for far too long.
From Memphis to the Deep End: Corhonda Dawson’s Unexpected Journey
Memphis is not typically the city that comes to mind when people think about scuba diving. Landlocked and far from the ocean, it is a place where the sport exists mostly on the fringes of recreational culture. Yet it is precisely from this unlikely starting point that Corhonda Dawson launched her journey into the water. Her path was not the result of a lifelong dream or a family tradition — it was the result of courage and a willingness to try something entirely outside her comfort zone.
Dawson has openly shared that she never envisioned herself as a scuba diver. That honesty is part of what makes her story so relatable and so important. She did not come from a background where this was expected or even discussed. She simply decided to go for it — and in doing so, she became something rare and remarkable.
Her accomplishment is a reminder that inspiration does not always come from people who planned to be trailblazers. Sometimes, it comes from ordinary people who made an extraordinary choice. For a young Black girl growing up in Memphis who has never seen someone who looks like her strapping on a diving tank, Dawson’s story could be the very thing that changes her perception of what is possible.
Representation Matters: The Impact of Seeing Yourself in New Spaces
One of the most enduring truths in conversations about diversity and inclusion is that you cannot be what you cannot see. For Black children in communities like Memphis, exposure to activities like scuba diving is often limited — not because the interest is not there, but because the representation is not. When there are no visible role models in a given space, the space can seem like it was never meant for you in the first place.
Corhonda Dawson is actively working to change that. By sharing her story and allowing it to be told publicly, she is planting a seed in the minds of young people who might never have considered the underwater world as something within their reach. Her visibility matters — not just as a feel-good story, but as a genuine act of expanding what Black children believe they are capable of pursuing.
Her hope that other Black girls and boys can find inspiration in what she has done reflects a generosity of spirit that defines the best kind of trailblazing. She is not just diving for herself. She is diving for every child who has been told, explicitly or implicitly, that certain adventures are not for them.
Breaking Barriers in Water Sports: The Bigger Picture for Black Communities and Swimming
Dawson’s story is part of a broader and deeply important conversation about Black communities and water. The relationship between Black Americans and swimming has been complicated by history — from segregated pools during the Jim Crow era to the lasting cultural and generational impact of limited access to swimming instruction. The consequences of that history are still visible today: Black children are significantly more likely than their white peers to have low or no swimming ability, according to research from USA Swimming.
That gap in swimming access is a safety issue as much as it is a representation issue, and organizations across the country are working to address it. Against that backdrop, seeing a Black woman from Memphis not only learn to swim but go on to become a certified scuba diver is a powerful statement. It speaks to what becomes possible when barriers are removed and when individuals are given — or seize for themselves — the opportunity to explore.
Dawson’s achievement does not erase those systemic barriers, but it does challenge them. And in challenging them, she offers both a personal triumph and a broader invitation for Black communities to reclaim a relationship with the water that history tried to take away.
Corhonda Dawson’s Message to the Next Generation of Black Explorers
Above all else, Corhonda Dawson wants young people — especially young Black girls — to know that their dreams do not have to look like anyone else’s. They do not have to stick to the paths that have already been cleared. They can venture into new territory, even when it feels uncomfortable, even when no one around them has done it before, and even when they themselves are not entirely sure they can.
Her story is a Black History Month celebration, but its lessons extend far beyond February. Every month, every day, there are young people making decisions about what they believe is available to them. Dawson’s example — a Memphis woman who stepped into one of the least represented spaces in recreational sports and made it her own — is the kind of story that can shift those decisions in profound ways.
As she continues her journey as a scuba diver, Dawson carries with her not just the weight of her own accomplishment but the hopes of everyone watching. She may have started out never imagining she could do this. Now, she is proof that imagination has nothing to do with it — only the willingness to take the plunge.