In London in 1948, Alice Coachman became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal, when she won the high jump competition. She was also the only female American athlete to win a medal at these Olympics. A fine sprinter as well as a superb high jumper, there’s little doubt she would have won more medals had the 1940 and 1944 games taken place. During the war years no
Born John Henry Clark on January 1, 1915, in Union Springs, Alabama, John left the family farm in Columbus in 1933 to Harlem, New York during the period some historians refer to as; The Great Migration. This period refers to the time between 1910 and 1970, where African Americans moved from the southern states, to the northern states in search of work and a better quality of life. There he pursued scholarship and
This year, Touchstone has partnered with visual arts organisation, Pavilion to deliver “Interwoven Histories” – a project which aims to engage older people from BME communities in creative arts workshops. Wednesday 18th October marked the first workshop of our exciting new programme, when Carol Sorhaindo introduced the Hamari Yaadain Dementia Café members to the use of saffron dyes and block painting. It is well known that saffron is the most
Frank Arthur Bailey, a man who’s legacy has been remembered by a glistening career in the London Fire Brigade, passed away in 2015 aged 90. Born in Guyana, Frank came to England in 1953 as a political activist, joining the West Indian Standing Conference. Whilst a member of WISC, he heard about the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), to which a representative explained that Black people ‘were not employed by the
We asked participants in the Best Start peer support programme how they felt on the final day of the course. Here is what they said. “I’m gutted, I wish it went on for longer, everyone has been really friendly, I will miss everyone” “I wish it went on for longer, I’ve really enjoyed it and learnt so much about myself, I feel sad to say goodbye” “I’ve learned a lot
A Great Britain and Wales international winger, Clive Sullivan played with both Hull and Hull Kingston Rovers in his career, and also played for Oldham, and Doncaster. He was the first black captain of the Great Britain Lions and for any national British sporting side. Clive A. Sullivan MBE (born 9 April 1943 in Cardiff, died 8 October 1985 in Hull) was a Welsh rugby union and professional Rugby League
Muhammed Ali was ‘more than just a Boxer’. He was a Black, Muslim man in Pre-Civil Rights Era America and he would go on to be an activist for the remainder of his life. Erasing these facts not only erases his importance to Black people worldwide, but the prejudice and struggles Ali endured. When asked why he would not join the US Army draft to fight in Vietnam, Ali said;
In 1936 African American sprinter Jesse Owens amazed the world by breaking Olympic records and winning four gold medals in Berlin, the headquarters of Hitler’s Nazi regime. However, Owens became known not only for his athletic triumphs, but for his friendship with German competitor Luz Long and for the social barriers he broke down in the face of Hitler’s Nazi regime. Childhood James Cleveland Owens was the youngest of ten
Born in Accra in the Gold Coast to parents with roots in Barbados, Trinidad and Dominica, she became Britain’s youngest and first Black woman book publisher, when in 1967 she co-founded Allison & Busby with Clive Allison (1944-2011). “We started off with virtually no money and thought we would go into making volumes of poetry accessible and affordable to young people like ourselves. So we printed 15,000 paperback poetry books
To celebrate the International Day of Older People on Sunday the 1st of October, Leeds City Museum curated a wonderful display of thousands of forget-me-not flowers which had been created by community groups around Leeds. As a symbol of memory and love, the forget-me-not flower was chosen to raise awareness of Dementia, and as you may recognise this is also the symbol for the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends. This years