I was excited to see this wonderful story about someone you may not have heard of before who is part of the Mixed experience.  Lady Mary Heath was a rival of Amelia Earhart and was the first woman (indeed first person) to ever fly solo the length of Africa to the United Kingdom.  Eleven years later she died after battling alcoholism and succumbing to injuries in a fall.

Despite her talent in aviation, she was often excluded from opportunities in the field.  She also was shut out of social circles and advertising endorsements when she married a black Trinidadian jockey.  According to the Daily Mail, when she married him she committed: “[t]he unpardonable sin in those days of marrying a black man … referred to as ‘the little n****er’ …True to form, she ignored them all and her marriage to Jack was by far the happiest and the longest until her dipsomania, or craving for alcohol to put it another way, forced them apart.”

A documentary about her life airs this week.  Learn more about this extraordinary woman here.–Heidi Durrow, Mixed Remixed Festival Founder