This series of photographs is unique for me as I had previously only seen one of them viz switching the driving side of the road from left to right in Sweden. Notwithstanding that the photograph that had the most resonance with me was the series where the Race official Jock Semple tries to push Kathy Switzer off the road after she attempts to run the Boston Marathon, which at the time was a men’s only event. Number 390 pushing Jock away was Kathy’s boyfriend. The year is 1967.
In hindsight the original restriction on female and black athletes was reprehensible and morally wrong. In the case of females the justification for that prohibition was the belief that it would cause problems with child bearing. I can still clearly remember my paternal grandmother making such ludicrous claims.
In South Africa a similar battle was fought. In the case of the Comrades it commenced with Frances Hayward as far back as 1923 being the first woman to run Comrades. She finished in 11:35 and of course, being an unofficial entrant meant that no official recognition in the form of a medal was forthcoming or expected. Instead she was given a silver tea service and a rose bowl by fellow runners and spectators in recognition of her sterling achievement.
In spite of various females completing the Comrades over the years, the CMA never wavered in its objection to female entrants participating in the race. Finally in 1975 they relented. Entries were then opened up to allow both women and non-white runners to compete officially for the very first time. Elizabeth Cavanaugh was the first woman to officially win the female race at Comrades.
The Statue of Liberty’s torch is parked in front of the western side of Madison Square in 1876.
A German Tank almost falls off a Russian bridge on July 4, 1941
The first armed airplane of the Serbian army in 1915
Women welders at Lincoln Motor Company in 1918
Times Square in 1922
The dedication of the Washington Monument in 1885
The first human x-ray taken by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1896, for his efforts Roentgen was the recipient of the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901. The image is of his wife’s hand
The Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964
Trapeze mining in Bonne Terre Missouri 1917
The world’s largest nuclear test, the Tsar Bomba, leaves behind a 95-kilometre high mushroom cloud, Novaya Zemlya, October 1961
Julia Clark in her Exhibition Plane, 1911. Miss Clark was the third woman to receive a pilot’s license from the Aero Club of America. She was the first female pilot to die in an air crash in the United States in 1912
World’s first airplane design without a propeller. The Henry Coanda 1910
Greyhound in 1923
The crew of the USS Lexington abandon ship following torpedo strikes on May 9th, 1942
The first photo of the Earth from the moon taken by Lunar Orbiter in 1966
The first known selfie taken by Nasseraldin Shah sometime between 1851 and 1896
Segregated cab service in Alabama in 1962
The first image of Titanic since its sinking in 1912. Taken in 1986
The attack on Pearl Harbor taken from one of the attacking Japanese aircraft on December 7, 1941
Southwest Airlines stewardesses in 1962
Inside the turrets of the USS Massachusetts, 1898
The funeral of Victor Hugo in 1885
Hannah Stilley, born 1746, photographed in 1840. More than likely the earliest born individual captured on film
A balancing act atop the Empire State Building in 1934
Ansel Adams, 1979. He broke his nose during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and never had it fixed
“Högertrafikomläggningen” – the day Sweden switched from driving on the left to driving on the right (1967).
Malcolm X tries to calm Muhammad Ali in 1964
The Dalai Lama at age 2 in 1937
An alien mugshot, part of a 1958 hoax in Bad Axe, Michigan
Hitler practices a speech in front of a mirror in 1925
The London Underground in 1890
Paul McCartney takes a selfie in 1959
Burning the albums of The Beatles in Alabama in 1966
Smuggling beer during prohibition sometime between 1920 and 1933
Illuminated tires invented by Goodyear in 1961
37. Directional sound finders used to detect incoming enemy planes in 1917
The aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
The PGM-11 “Redstone” – the World’s First Nuclear Missile displayed in Grand Central Station, July 7, 1957
Construction of The Lincoln Memorial in 1921
your comments on the Boston Marathon and Comrades relating to Sa history involving blacks and females remind me of my own experiences. Digressing for a moment I had the privilege of reconnecting with the Runaway Comrade Bob delaMotte who has written a most delightful book detailing his experiences. Bob has taken up the cause of our disadvantaged marathon runners. Vincent Rakabele being the case in point. Vincent having hit certain highs like participating in the Moscow Olympics, top finishers in numerous local events died a pauper. Bob feels the running community neglected him and many others. the profits from Bob’s book are going towards supporting these chaps
My story is quite simple. I was privileged to meet Vincent at one of the SA Championship events in East London and invited him back to my club,Buffs. I certainly saw raised eyebrows when I took him into the pub at Buffs and I had to explain to the others that here was an Olympian and who without doubt was the first to enter the Buffs Pub. Interestingly in those days whilst it was frowned upon I could take a black man into the pub but there was no ways my wife who was a member of the club was allowed
Thanks for sharing that vignette with me. In many ways it sums up the absurdity of the situation that prevailed at that juncture