Following on from Rob Hadgraft‘s ‘Pioneers in Bloomers’ which follows the exploits of the first professional sports women in Britain. I am continuing to get my running fix through reading as I slowly recover from my injuries.
This time it’s a history by David Crocket - Frank Hart, The First Black Ultrarunning Star. Completing at least 113 ultra races, his greatest achievement being setting a then world record for 6 day racing of 565 miles at Maddison Square Gardens in 1879.
Frank Hart is one of the first nationally famous black athletes in America, even if he is little heard of, overcoming racial slurs and stereotyping. Unfortunately ‘Jim Crow’ laws and general bigotry which took hold in America during the 20th Century meant that what inclusivity that did exist and taken advantage of, by Hart, was lost for years.
Hart made a relative fortune through pedestrianism before losing his money and dying a pauper in 1908.
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