Harry Edward, Britain’s first black Olympic medallist, will be honoured with a blue plaque on his London home.
The German-British sprinter won bronze medals in the 100m and 200m at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. He was also the British sprint champion for three years consecutively, famously winning the 100, 220 and 440 yards finals inside an hour in 1922.
The plaque, according to English Heritage, will be placed on his former home in Huntley Street in Bloomsbury, London.
An English Heritage spokesperson said: “It’s a really exciting prospect. Harry will join a fine collection of Olympic stars who are commemorated on blue plaques.”
Boxer Harry Mallin, middle-distance runner Philip Noel-Baker, tennis player Kitty Godfree and rower Jack Beresford, who were all part of the 1920 Great Britain team, will also be commemorated with plaques.
The commemoration comes after the discovery of Edward’s memoir in a New Orleans archive. Published this year by Yale University Press under the title When I Passed the Statue of Liberty I Became Black, it details the story of his life as well as his monumental journey in athletics.
Edward was born in Germany, to German and Dominican parents. During the First World War, Edward was imprisoned for nearly four years in a civilian detention camp for the duration of the conflict, and moved to England when it was liberated.
He lived in a house near University College, in Bloomsbury, London for four years before emigrating to the US, where he worked in the theatre with Orson Welles, ran food and milk programmes in Harlem, fought school segregation and volunteered for service in the nascent United Nations in Germany and Greece.
He also travelled to Vietnam to manage a programme fostering kids. A tireless campaigner for civil rights, greeting and working with dignitaries visiting the UN, he died on a family visit to Germany in 1973.
