Talk:Winifred Atwell

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Date of birth[edit]

There's some doubt about 27 February 1914. She died 28 Feb 1983; her grave stone says she was aged 73, which would suggest a birth sometime between 1 March 1909 and 28 Feb 1910, both dates inclusive. That would be consistent with 27 Feb 1910, and this date has various sources to back it up. But another widely seen date is 27 April 1910, or 1914 - but neither of these would square with her being 73. So either the age on the gravestone is wrong (unlikely, but not unprecedented; which could lead to various possibilities, including 27 Feb 1914 and both April dates), or she really was born 27 Feb 1910. Can anyone shed any light on this? -- JackofOz (talk) 02:43, 10 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

There is a discussion about this at Find a Grave - which is often a reliable site. The site itself says 27 February, but on the discussion page there are comments from someone who seems to have known her, who states: "She was definitely born on 27 April (and not in February, as wrongly recorded in Wikipedia, etc.), but was always rather shy about giving her age. I believe she was 68 (almost 69) when she died on 28 February 1983."... and... "No idea where Wikipedia and other sources got the idea from that it was on 27 February - this is quite wrong, but I do not know how to change it." Now, I know that is not a reliable source, but it is supported by other sources like this, this and this. However, we don't know whether those sites got it from here at those points when WP itself said April. I propose giving precedence to April in the article, but noting that there is some uncertainty. There is also uncertainty about her year of birth, and again I would indicate some uncertainty in the article, via a footnote. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:31, 28 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Just updating to note that FindaGrave now gives her date of birth as 27 April. Ghmyrtle (talk) 07:56, 16 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
ODNB (now cited within the article) are stating the 27th April birthdate but are unsure of the year, going with c. 1913. They also give 27th Feb as her death date in 1983, not 28th. Could this Feb/April uncertainty simply be a case of her death month being mixed up with her birth month somewhere down the line? Crisso (talk) 16:19, 3 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Black person?[edit]

There are several references to Winifred as a "black person". Apart from the American obsession with race, I would question whether she should be described as "black". She is obviously not white, but neither is she "black". As a Trinidadian, wasn't she a Indo-Trinidadian or Afro-Trinidadian? Neither can be called "Black".Royalcourtier (talk) 06:18, 4 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]