Les Lester's Chronicle, Message Board

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Tight rope walker, Who Was Carlos Trower?? Splaaaat!! (article)

Posted by Kris on 6/23/2025, 8:22 pm

I know when you think of Tight Rope walkers you always imagine folks who look like me.

But Carlos Trower who did not look like me(photo below) was one of the earliest tight rope walkers ever in the western world, he was an Afro-American tight rope walker who called himself ‘The African Blondin’ was born in the late 1840s in New York and began tight-rope walking at an early age. Sorry, I couldn't speak about Carlos since the 1860s because I've decided to give a White image on this "magic" Tight Rope Walking, I mean, I had to exclude Blacks

. So when I first saw Carlos Trower walking on a tight rope in 1864 I couldn't breathe anymore

All in all, in September 1864, whilst still a teenager, Carlos was engaged by the North Staffordshire Railway in England to walk across the lake on a rope suspended some hundred feet above the water. He was indeed the great African Blondin who delighted thousands of excursionists by his clever and daring feat. Today one of his descendant in England, Ron Howard who is his great-grandson looks completely White and had a conversation about him in a video. Hmmm, interesting!!

Link: ARTICLE

Meet Carlos Trower great-grandson Ron Howard, (VIDEO)

Posted by Kris on 6/23/2025, 8:28 pm, in reply to "Tight rope walker, Who Was Carlos Trower?? Splaaaat!! (article)"

He discusses the incredible career of Victorian ropewalker Carlos Trower (1850-1889).

Re: Meet Carlos Trower great-grandson Ron Howard, (VIDEO)

Posted by gm on 6/24/2025, 6:33 am, in reply to "Meet Carlos Trower great-grandson Ron Howard, (VIDEO)"

Saw a short docu/story about him on PBS a while ago..
Nothing new here except now his descendants are white & passing..

.. much like Pope Leo. Lawwd

Re: Meet Carlos Trower great-grandson Ron Howard, (VIDEO))

Posted by theone on 6/24/2025, 9:02 am, in reply to "Re: Meet Carlos Trower great-grandson Ron Howard, (VIDEO)"

I've never heard of him until last night. I'm impressed, for real. AAs have truly contributed a lot in so many fields. After Carlos Trower we apparently had to wait for another 150 yrs til 2018 to see the rise of another famous Black tightrope walker(a woman in this case)from Paris, France, ms Tatiana-Mosio Bonogonga who completed a stunt on a cord hanging 35 metres from the ground at Paris' picturesque. (video below)

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