200m and sprint relay team at the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games. He reached the final of the 100m and 200m and gained a bronze medal in both, becoming the first black person to gain an Olympic medal. The start of the 100m race was confused with several competitors left at the starting line. He competed in British AAA meetings in 1921 and 1922. He won many races, including ones he was invited to enter. However, in 1922, in the main AAA meeting, he gained first place in the 100, 200 and 400-yard finals, when the finals in all these races were run within one hour. This achievement has never been superseded. His success was congratulated in person by King George V. In 1923 he was invited to compete in New York's Yankee Stadium so emigrated to the USA. However his athletics performance in the USA was less successful. Life in America He moved to Philadelphia, returning to New York City after he had divorced and remarried. He initially worked at the Federal Theatre Project as an administrator, that included in 1936 the first staging of Macbeth with a black cast directed by John Houseman and Orson Welles. During the Second World War he worked for the Office of Price Administration and organised rationing. When the war ended worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and was sent to Greece. He subsequently worked for the New York Employment Office until he retired in the late 1960s. He continued as a volunteer including working abroad. He went to Vietnam to initiate a US sponsored foster-children programme. He also greeted worked dignitaries visiting the UN and the New York mayor's office. Legacy The Harry Edward Papers, including correspondence, photographs, and other personal papers, are curated at the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans. They include his autobiography When I Passed the Statue of Liberty I Became Black. For a more complete description, see the finding aid for the collection. References External links The remarkable story of Harry Edward: Britain’s first black Olympian in The Guardian 1898 births 1973 deaths British male sprinters German male sprinters Black British sportspeople Athletes (track and field) at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Athletes from Berlin German people of Guyanese descent English people of Guyanese descent English people of German descent Medalists at the 1920 Summer