Research shows that compared to other groups, African Americans have historically had less access to swimming skills and thereby have a higher rate of drowning while swimming. Knowing how to swim is an important drowning prevention strategy, yet many African Americans residing in a county in South Carolina do not know how to swim, despite living in the immediate vicinity of water. This places African Americans at a discrete and hazardous disadvantage that is amplified by elevated levels of aquatic fear within the community. The purpose of this study was to explore aquatic fear reduction among adult African Americans randomly assigned to two leading swimming education programs. Utilizing a mixed methods approach for data collection, 37 participants completed a Beliefs about Water Questionnaire at pretest and posttest junctures; the participants also completed semistructured interviews. The findings suggested that global fear levels decreased dramatically using swimming education programs; however, the level and type of fear of water is relative to the individual and difficult to predict within the context of the ability to acquire basic swimming skills. The findings provide valuable information to public health officials for identifying the impacts of fear levels and fear types on the ability to acquire basic swimming competency skills. Further research that addresses fear as a barrier to learning how to swim is noteworthy and essential to the health and wellbeing of the local African American and the global communities. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]