Ruth Mwandumba, University of Manchester Sport Scholar

Ruth Mwandumba is a pioneer in her own right, having been England’s first-ever black rifle shooting Commonwealth Champion in 2018, with plans to repeat the feat in 2022. Ruth will soon be graduating as a UoM sport scholar at The University of Manchester. 

“Black History Month is always an important time of year for me because not only does it give me an opportunity to learn about my history and my culture but it also gives people who aren’t in the black community an opportunity to learn about black British history which they might not have a chance to learn about at any other time of the year. I also use it as a time of reflection to think really hard about where my family come from and my origins and the sacrifices they have made to give me the opportunities I have today. I’m incredibly proud to call myself black British because it’s a duality that once upon a time would have been deemed impossible.”

Khadijat Ajonbadi, University of Manchester Student

Khadijat is a final year student at Alliance Manchester Business School studying BSc Management. She reflects on the challenges she has faced and how she has overcome them while balancing her studies and playing basketball at Manchester.

“In my career journey and sports, I have faced challenges with taking “losses”. I typically have high expectations for myself and consider myself a recovering perfectionist, so when I applied for jobs and got several rejections, as well as missing shots in a competitive environment like basketball (whether in training or a match), it was disheartening. But these losses made me realise how much I attached my self-worth to my achievements. The losses became lessons as I learned to recognise my effort and not be too hard on myself. I also learned to regulate my expectations as I will not make every shot I take.”

Ore Abiona, University of Manchester Graduate

Ore graduated from The University of Manchester in 2017 and now works in sports marketing for Southhampton Football Club. She reflects on her career, the hurdles she has encountered, and how she has overcome them while being true to herself.

“At Southampton FC, I am the only Black woman in the commercial team. When I was interviewing for a few roles across the sports industry, despite pitches across the Premier League being full of Black men, I was interviewed almost exclusively by white men. It’s all a little bit strange at times, but not entirely surprising. When I first started out in the world of work, I would hide bits of myself – I’d avoid mentioning the music I really listened to, or the food I really ate for dinner last night. I’d try and water down the Blackest parts of myself in order to fit in and avoid any awkward lines of questioning. Then I had a manager at my old company who was South African and unapologetically so. She inspired me to wholly be myself and wholly be Black, something I usually turned off once I stepped into the building.

“Now, in my new role, I embrace being Black, being from South London, and having access to stories and perspectives that are unique and special to me. I recently took part in Southampton FC’s Black History Month initiative, where I sat down with a colleague from Saint Foundation, the club’s charity, and Lexi Lloyd-Smith, a forward from the Women’s first team. The initiative was organised by the new Diversity and Inclusion board and was filmed. We spoke about being Black within sport, at Southampton FC and other various parts of our lives. It was eye-opening, but actually also quite comforting to know that my experiences weren’t entirely exclusive to me.”

Diane Modahl MBE

One of Britain’s most successful athletes, Diane Modahl was raised in Withington. She now chairs Greater Manchester’s new Young Persons Task Force, set up by the mayor’s office to challenge the effect of COVID-19 on young people in the city. Diane is CEO of the Diane Modahl Sports Foundation which she founded in 2010 to champion undiscovered talent, and brings elite coaching and mentoring opportunities to able-bodied and disabled young people, particularly those living in disadvantaged areas.

Diane has won a few sporting medals including gold in the 800m at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, she also competed in four Olympic Games, and has held British and Commonwealth records.

Follow the link below to watch an interview with Diana by ITV for their Black Voices in Conversation series in 2020.

Len Johnson

Johnson grew up in working class Clayton, before Windrush docked. He was born in 1902 and went on to dominate the middleweight boxing division to playing a role in the African Independence movements of the 40s. 

It wasn’t until he became one of Britain’s greatest boxers that Johnson was denied his rightful place in history. The boxing regulations at the time stipulated that title contenders had to have two white parents, which deemed Johnson ineligible to a title he should have otherwise won.

After WWII, Johnson became a prominent local left-wing and anti-racist activist and attended the 5th Pan African Congress in Manchester in 1945. Held at Chorlton-on-Medlock town hall, the 5th Pan African Congress was attended by the civil rights writer WEB DuBois, journalist Amy Garvey (the widow of influential activist Marcus Garvey), and the intellectuals and independence activists who would become the iconic first generation of African leaders, like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. 

Click button below to watch more about Johnson and his story.

Arthur Wharton

Arthur Wharton was known as the worlds first  Black professional footballer. When he first took to the pitch, the professional game was in its infancy. Of royal Ghanaian lineage on his mother’s side, Wharton came to the UK to study as a Methodist missionary when he was 17. 

Wharton was a talented all-rounder when it came to sport. He set the ten-second world record for the 100 yard dash at the Amateur Athletic Association championships in 1886, four years after he came to the UK. He set a record time cycling between Blackburn and Preston, played cricket professionally from his teens until his fifties, and also made a number of Rugby Union appearances. 

It is for his footballing achievements that he is best remembered, however. Wharton turned professional in 1889, playing both as a goalkeeper and winger, months after the Football League was formed. He played for Ashton North End and was Stalybridge Rovers player-manager. 

Wharton played his last-ever game for Stockport County in 1902 against Newton Heath – the club that would become Manchester United – at their Bank Street, Clayton ground. 

Like his successors in the game, Wharton wasn’t immune from racism – the ‘dusky flyer’ was one of the more polite names he was called in the press. But Britain’s first black professional footballer was intelligent, strong-willed, and hard as nails; ‘Good Old Wharton’, as fans called him, was an early hero of the terraces. He served in the Home Guard during the Great War, and died in 1930 after twenty years as a coal miner. 

Click below to read more. 

Nicola Adams OBE

Nicola Adams was the first female boxer to become an Olympic Champion in 2012. She was born in Leeds and went to college in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. At the peak of her career, Adams was the reigning Olympic, World, and European Games champion at flyweight. She retired in 2019 with an undefeated record and won Sports Personality Award at the British LGBT Awards in 2019.

Adams represented Haringey Police Community Club at boxing. She is openly lesbian, and was named the most influential LGBT person in Britain by The Independent in 2012, and has been included in the annual Powerlist for recognition as one of the most influential people of African/African-Caribbean descent in the UK. She also became the first openly LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing Gold medal, after her win at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Read more below.

Denise Lewis

Denise Lewis was born in West Bromwich to Jamaican parents. She is currently an accomplished presenter, broadcaster, former athlete and President of Commonwealth Games England. Throughout her career, Lewis has used her platform to highlight projects that discuss and promote diversity.

In 2016, Lewis presented Winners for BBC Two, BBC World and News, which saw her uncover the incredible stories of six female athletes from around the world and the challenges they face due to being female. She has also worked to promote Women in Work for International Women’s day.  

Lewis joined other exceptional figures in politics, business, sport and science to share her insights into being Black and British in the BBC Two Series ‘Black is the New Black’ in 2016. 

Her sporting achievements include the first European to win an Olympic Heptathlon at the Sydney Olympics, she was the Commonwealth Games Champion twice, the 1998 European Champion, and won World Championship silver in 1997 and 1999. At one point she held British record for heptathlon points before being superseded by Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, respectively. 

Follow the link below to watch Denise Lewis on Black is the new Black.