Human Rights A Day

Harry Jerome sets world record for 100 metre race in Saskatoon. Henry “Harry” Winston Jerome was born on September 30, 1940 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. When he was 12, his family moved to North Vancouver where, as a black family, they were met with a petition aiming to remove them from the neighbourhood. After moving to a more hospitable neighbourhood, Jerome excelled as a sprinter in school, soon being coached at the University of Oregon by famed coach and Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. At the age of 19 on July 15, 1960, while in Saskatoon for the Olympic trials, Jerome ran the 100 metres in 10.0 seconds, becoming Canada’s first to hold a world track record. He competed for Canada in the 1960 Olympics, but suffered an injury. That same year, Jerome ran the 100 yards in 9.2 seconds, becoming the first man to share the world 100-yard and 100-metre records. When he suffered a severe muscle injury at the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia, he didn’t know if he’d be able to run again. Yet at the 1964