Today is:  Thu, 11 - Mar, 2010: 
This day in 1948...
African American Dr. Reginald Weir competes in U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Championship  Read More...

When a New Yorker named Dr. Reginald Weir signed up to play indoor lawn tennis at a national tournament scheduled for March 11, 1948, it raised no eyebrows. The organizers failed to block him for the simple reason that it never occurred to them that a black man might have the title of a physician.

Thus, red-faced officials ended up letting him play, even though blacks at the time were banned from U.S. Indoor Lawn Tennis Association events. Unfortunately for Weir, however, he lost in the second round to the fellow who won the championship, Bill Talbert. Having broken the race barrier, Weir continued to compete, and in 1952, he and a fellow black player, George Stewart, became the first black men to play in the USLTA national championship. Although both men lost in their first round, they inspired other black pioneers of tennis, perhaps including Arthur Ashe. It was Ashe who won the U.S. Open in 1968, throwing open the gates for black men and women to excel in the sport.

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Stephen Hammond is an author, speaker, trainer and consultant in workplace human rights. He teaches managers, supervisors and staff how to prevent human rights disasters at work and how to deal with human rights problems when they arise. Stephen works with clients in the public and private sectors across Canada, to promote welcoming workplaces.

Since 1992, Stephen has trained thousands of employees, including staff, managers, and union stewards about Harassment, human rights, diversity, equity, and employee relations issues. He is passionate about politics, current affairs and human rights and loves to golf and ski.

Stephen learned about the importance of equality from his mother, a former Member of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly and Cabinet Minister. His mother’s quest for women’s equality allowed him to see the importance of equal access for everyone. Stephen has been involved in politics since age 9 and became the youngest Executive Director of a political party of Manitoba in his mid-twenties. In the same decade, Stephen learned how simple freedoms of expression and political belief are taken for granted when he was arrested at a Solidarity rally in communist Poland for taking pictures of the police. Since that experience, he may disagree with what someone is saying, but unless it incites others to act in a hateful and hurtful manner, he feels compelled to protect a person's right to say it.

As a non-practising Lawyer and member of the Law Society of British Columbia, Stephen keeps up with all the relevant laws and cases in his field. He prides himself on applying these relatively new legal principles in understandable terms. He is a popular interviewee with television media.

Stephen has years of experience working as a Manager of Employee Relations with the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and the Hudson’s Bay Company in Winnipeg and Toronto. He has been responsible for all aspects of employee relations and labour relations, with unionized and non-unionized workforces. Stephen has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School. He was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 1988.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Stephen has called British Columbia home since 1990. His volunteer time has included Big Brothers, the Western Institute for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, the Clean Air Coalition, Amnesty International, the West End Residents Association and the Tenants Rights Action Coalition. In his spare time, Stephen is on the steep and deep slopes of winter, while in the summer (in his words) he makes futile attempts to get a decent handicap on British Columbia's beautiful golf courses.


If you are going to introduce Stephen Hammond, you may want to use one of these paragraphs. Or you may mix and match. However, Stephen suggests keeping your introduction short…unless you want your attendees to fall asleep…before he speaks.
Stephen Hammond is an author, speaker, trainer and consultant in the field of workplace human rights. Since 1992 Stephen has rescued organizations from human rights disasters and enhanced businesses by encouraging them to change with the times. While Stephen is a lawyer by trade and still a member of the Law Society of B.C., he no longer practices law. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Professional Speakers and in 2008 Stephen was one of 5 Canadians to receive the designation of CSP (Certified Speaking Professional), the International Speaking Federation’s “most prestigious earned designation for platform excellence”. Stephen's goal is to support welcoming workplaces.

At a relatively young age, Stephen Hammond’s life experiences shaped his views and passions regarding human rights. Between obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba and a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, Stephen was the executive director of one of Manitoba's political parties and was thrown into jail in communist Poland, accused of being a spy for the West. Stephen was called to the Bar in British Columbia in 1988 and proceeded to work in the field of labour and employee relations both in the private and public sectors. Stephen's goal is to support welcoming workplaces.