Black History Month

Black Heroes

Claudia Jones

• Lived 1915–1964
• Mother of the Notting Hill Carnival
• Activist for the National Committee of the Communist party of the USA (NCCP)
• Editor of the column ‘Negro Affairs’ for the NCCP.

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Rosa Parks

• Lived 1913–2005
• African American civil rights activist
• Known as the mother of the civil rights movement
• Parks refused to obey bus driver James Blake's order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger.

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Marcus Garvey

• Lived: 1887–1940
• National hero of Jamaica and also founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Country League (UNIA-ACL)
• Garvey proposed that African Americans should return to Africa, an idea known as the colonist movement
• In his editorial in Negro World entitled African Fundamentalism, he wrote:
  ”Our union must know no clime, boundary, or nationality…let us hold together under all climes and in every country.”

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Nelson Mandela

• Born 1918
• He was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island
• Anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress (ANC)
• He became the first black president of South Africa after his release from prison in 1990
• He governed from 1994–1999.

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Dame Kelly Holmes

• Born – 1970.
• Kelly won gold medals in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.

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Robert “Bob” Nesta Marley

• Lived 1945–1981
• Marley is regarded as the all-time king of reggae music
• He was a Jamaican musician, song writer and rastafarian.

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Pele

• Born 1940
• Former Brazilian footballer, widely regarded as the greatest footballer of all time
• Pele’s real name is Edson Arantes dos Nascimento.

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Jesse Owens

• Lived 1913–1980
• Jesse won four gold medals in the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin – for the 100 metres, 200 metres, long jump and the 4 x 100 metres relay
• He was born in Lawrence County, Alabama, USA.

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© 2008