If you happened to grow up in North Vancouver, British Columbia (like I did) the name Harry Jerome was one seen everywhere. Harry Jerome was not just an Olympian, a world record holder, a Canadian athletic legend, a profoundly impacting community leader, but he was also Black in a time when the US was still embedded in the Jim Crow era and segregation, racism and prejudice were rife throughout this country as well. In this episode I have an incredible talk with Harry’s sister Valerie Jerome. Valerie herself was an incredible athlete, who trained alongside her brother and competed at the Olympics, Commonwealth and World championships. Like her brother she went on to become a community leader and teacher, even running for civic, provincial and federal elections for the B.C.’s Green Party. Myself and Valerie sit down to talk about what it was like being Black in Canada in the 1950s, life in North Vancouver, the quest to become an Olympian, overcoming incredible odds and the important legacy of Harry Jerome.
Today’s book recommendation is by Valerie Jerome titled “Races: The Trials and Triumphs of Canada’s Fastest Family”
As well you can catch live footage of Valerie competing back in the day in the CBC Gem series – Black Life: Untold Stories – an eight episode documentary that looks at Black lives in Canada.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
S9E19 - Rum, Debt and Fur
S9E17 - Lost in the Crowd: Acadians and the First World War
S9E16 - Sex in Canada: Getting Down in the Great White North
S9E15 - Alcohol in early North America
S9E14 Hockey: The Game as We Know it Today
S9E13 - Of Fugitives and Orators: The Characters Behind the RCMP’s Complicated History - a special Canadian Time Machine episode
S9E12 - The Canadian Masters of the Air
S9E11 - Canada, Maritime Power, and Africa
S9E10 The Beginning of the End: The 1758 Siege of Louisbourg
S9E9 - A Ballistic Decision: Canadian Intelligence Services and the Cancellation of the Avro Arrow
Holiday Reboot - The Upper Canadian Militia during the War of 1812
Holiday Reboot - S2E1 The Strangest Tale of WW2: The Battle for Castle Itter
S9E8 Confederates in Canada and the Canadian Connection to Lincoln's Assassination
S9E7 Big Men Fear Me - The Life and Times of George McCullagh
S9E6 The SS in Canada Part Two
S9E5 - The Partition of Palestine
S9E4 The SS in Canada Part One
S9E3 The Bombing of Air India Flight 182
S9E2 United the Salish! The Battle of Maple Bay
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
History Obscura
Historycal: Words that Shaped the World
The Rest Is History
Everything Everywhere Daily