Excluded because of their race, not racing: Loughborough textiles staff design Olympic track uniform to spark conversations about the discrimination of Black women
For decades, Black female athletes have dominated Olympic track and marathon events, a tradition that continued at the recent 2024 Paris Games. However, this success exists against a backdrop of historical discrimination rooted in colonialism as for many years, female athletes of the African diaspora were excluded from competing in the Olympics, with this ban lasting until after World War II.
In this piece, Dr Kerri Akiwowo, Senior Lecturer in Textiles, and Selene States, Teacher across Fine Art and Textiles at Loughborough, discuss why they designed a 1930s Olympic track uniform to spark conversations about the discrimination of Black women.
“Icons like Serena and Venus Williams showcase what success, endorsements, and media recognition might have looked like for Black sportswomen of the African diaspora if the legacy of colonialism and systemic racism had not persisted in sport. It’s crucial to have research that keeps discussions about historic and ongoing discrimination against Black women visible and relevant so we can work towards anti-discriminatory practices both within sports and in society at large.
“One emerging area of research focus is Afrofuturism, a creative movement that blends speculative fiction, design, and philosophy to envision future possibilities for Black communities, rooted in the experiences and history of the African diaspora.
“In the world of sports, athletic performance and fashion often go hand in hand. In a bid to highlight this intersection and space where discriminatory practices exist, we’ve designed an Afrofuturistic track uniform for the historic 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, where Jesse Owens, a Black American male athlete, won four gold medals, while Black female athletes were unjustly excluded.
“The sports kit we've designed envisions the performative sportswear that track athletes Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes might have worn at the 1936 Games – an event they were barred from competing in, not because of their racing abilities, but because of their race. Despite qualifying times that earned them a spot on the 4x100m relay team, Pickett and Stokes were replaced by two white athletes due to hostile treatment and abuse from their teammates.
“The ensemble we’ve designed features a short-sleeved jersey and voluminous bloomers – a symbol of women’s rights. The history of women wearing trousers is deeply connected to the struggle for suffrage and equal rights, and our Afrofuturist sports bloomer highlights the inequalities faced by Black female athletes and the barriers to their progress in sports.
“The design combines African wax printed textiles, known as ‘Ankara’, with the cultural aesthetics of Africana imagery, using carefully engineered colour and pattern choices. Fabric manipulation techniques reinterpret traditional wax prints, reflecting the history of cultural appropriation in colonial textiles, while origami-inspired pleating adds flexibility to the garment through both authentic and historically inspired methods.
“The Afrofuturist kit also seeks to celebrate and elevate the participation and sporting excellence of Black women across the diaspora—past, present, and future. Honouring trailblazing athletes, their struggles and achievements, is important as they paved the way for future generations. Black women endured injustice within the Olympic institution until 1948, when African American athlete Alice Coachman became the first Black woman to win Olympic gold for the High Jump. However, even after such milestones, the fight for recognition persisted. For example, in 1968, while Tommie Smith and John Carlos made history with their Black Power salute, the media largely overlooked Doris “Anita” Neil Oly’s achievements as the first Black British female Olympian.
“Today, while Black female athletes are highly visible in Olympic events on British and American Olympic teams – including at the recent Paris Games – they remain underrepresented in other areas of society. This disparity highlights the performative nature of sports culture, where athletic achievements are celebrated, but broader issues of equality are often overlooked or trivialised.
“We've developed the Afrofuturist track uniform in stages, testing origami patterns and prints along the way. Now, we're moving forward to create the complete kit and showcase it to the world by having a Black female athlete wear it. We hope to exercise the dialogic impact of apparel design by reclaiming and re-envisioning narratives about race and gender discrimination. This work serves to educate society, empower the marginalised and pioneer new methodologies for creative expression and systemic change.”