It began when his grandfather told his father to fight for Canada instead of the U.S. prompted Bolden and her family to move to Canada. According to, when a school board member thought of how a team might respond to the news, he responded, “Go ahead and knock the n-– out.”Īccording to Brown, the mistreatment of Black people in the U.S. Bolden’s rival team from New Orleans almost didn’t compete because their leaders were unwilling to accept including a Black student. Contestants were asked to spell “prejudice” as one of their words in the contest. Bolden was no stranger to prejudice like any other Black child during those times. Bolden’s win regained attention in 2021 after Zaila Avant-garde became the second Black girl and first African-American to win the Scripps contest. Even the Guinness World Records recognized it as the first nationwide spelling bee. While the Scripps competition we know today started in 1925, Cleveland’s 1908 Spelling Bee was the first national spelling contest. After her victory, Bolden was greeted by “a storm of applause” and praises from hundreds of people. While going through a box of her belongings, Brown told the news outlet family found a newspaper clipping from The Plain Dealer relating the story of the Black girl who out-spelled hundreds of white children. It was only after Bolden died that her family realize her historic accomplishment, according to NPR. However, Bolden never showed off her gold medal Then Bolden catapulted her team to a win. Her team was trailing in a field that included teams from New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Erie, PA.
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