Another enigma! Turns out a) she probably wasn't black and b) wasn't the first anyway as there was a black woman (not yet identified) playing in the 1881 'Scotland v England' games. Today is the anniversary of Emma Clarke's death in 1925.
Comments
Log in with your Bluesky account to leave a comment
Would love to know more about the black woman playing in the 1881 'Scotland v England' games. Do you have any pointers on this you'd be happy to share? And yes, the story of 'Emma Clarke' is fascinating - the attempts to identify her, the imaginative recreations, the debates!
She is mentioned in just one article that I know of, in The Yorkshireman's report of the match on 13 June 1881: '... one dusky-looking female, with an evident dash of [n-word] blood in her'. No teamlines, no clues as to identity or even which team she played for.
Comments