Barbara Howard

May 8, 1920 – January 26, 2017

Barbara Howard was born in Vancouver and raised at 10th and Nanaimo. She attended Laura Secord Elementary School, Britannia High School and completed Senior Matric at John Oliver before going on to UBC. Barbara graduated from UBC with a Batchelor of Education degree and was the first person from a visual minority to be hired as a teacher by the Vancouver School Board. She taught at Hastings, Henry Hudson, Strathcona and Trafalgar Elementary Schools during her 40-year career.

During the late 1930s, Howard was one of the fastest female sprinters in the British Empire. She represented Canada at the 1938 British Empire Games in Sydney, Australia. She became the first Black woman athlete to represent Canada in an International competition. In 2010, Barbara received a Remarkable Woman Award from the Vancouver Park Board for “her passionate dedication to inspire others to make a positive difference in their community”.

Barbara Howard was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, received the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Award in 2013, and was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 2015.

Barbara Howard

Barbara Howard Canadian Athlete

Barbara Howard Trailblazer

Photos: CBC