The purpose of this study was to describe how African American pre-service physical education teachers engage themselves in learning aquatic content. This study used a case study design in andragogy theory. Seven participants (four males and three females) had very little experience and/or swimming ability prior to enrolling in the basic aquatic course. In fact, four participants had encountered near-drowning events and consequently experienced a fear of swimming. Data were collected from the participants while they were enrolled in a basic aquatic course and again while they were enrolled in the intermediate aquatic course. The data sources included self-reflective journals, a series of semi-structured face-to-face interviews and e-mail correspondence. The data were analyzed using a constant comparative method. Four significant themes were present: (a) "drowning prevention lessons"; (b) "self-guided learning"; (c) "independent versus dependent learners"; and (d) "overcoming racial stereotypes." Based on the pre-service teachers' interpretations of their aquatic experiences, we suggest physical education teacher education programmes should create learning experiences within aquatic courses that not only enhance future physical education teachers' pedagogical content knowledge, but that also increase their awareness of culturally relevant pedagogy and social justice issues that may be faced when entering the physical education profession.