Ode to Maddy Tolud | Colorful, creative and involved

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Ode to my mother Mattie Tolud.

A story about a black Dutch woman.

Imagine being born in 1949 from a black Dutch father and a white Dutch mother. All the doctors in the hospital are around your birth. Everyone has come out to see how a black girl is born from a white mother. I can't imagine what it must have been like for my grandmother and grandfather to have a child with so much attention.

Growing up, playing outside is not something you take for granted. People in the Netherlands are not used to color. There are few foreigners in the city of Amsterdam where you grow up and there is a lot of racism.

My mother was raised with the Dutch language and Dutch culture, just like her parents, very protective.

In 1963, when my mother was 14, she sent a letter to the editor to the VARA magazine, which appeared in the youth page. In it, she asked people if they wanted to become a member of an organization against racial discrimination. De Ark, Anti Racial Discrimination Club. My mother had not discussed this with her parents and when 3000 letters arrived at her home in the first 3 days, she had a lot of explaining to do. The number of members grew quickly and her father Job John Tolud also took a seat on a board. The Ark became a large organization with a branch not only in Amsterdam.

There was an exchange of letters between my mother and Martin Luther King. Martin Luther King even came to Amsterdam and was given an honorary membership for the ARK. In the Martin Luther King museum in America there is a letter In the museum visible to everyone. The Anti Racial Discrimination Club was also invited to come to the United States to meet him. Unfortunately, my mother was not allowed to come by her father. It was a different time in terms of racism in the Netherlands but certainly also in America and my mother was 15 years old when this happened, so I can imagine that her grandfather did not want to let her go. She also received a letter from Robert Kennedy, with appreciation for everything she did.

After her death I received several letters from people who wanted to tell me how important the ark had been to them.

At this time there was intensive contact with America. I found everything in folders, they kept everything.

After that came the hippie era and I was born. My mother certainly does not sit still. In the Rivierenbuurt, where we lived, she organized 6 stivas. Among the festival Fols, which I still see as a precursor to the Parade that is still organized in almost the same place later.

In her beloved Rivierenbuurt she organized the first open studio routes. A neighborhood with many studio homes and many artists, this has organized its hunts, applied for subsidies for the openings and many people came to these. It was always busy.

At that time she also made a lot of art herself and she also had exhibitions herself. Exhibitions with her paintings, spoken word and stories. She could write well and had a lot to tell. Not only about herself but also about her father who had already come to the Netherlands in 1921 and always lived in the Netherlands. Several newspaper articles have appeared with stories about what it was like to be black and live in the Netherlands.

At that time we had several refugees in our house. My mother was active in the neighborhood and thought we had enough space to help someone. The first person who stayed with us for a while came from Bangladesh, later we also had someone from Nigeria in our house. This shows how much attention my mother had for others.

My mother continued to work for the black community. She had the idea to set up a black and migrant center. They gathered a number of people around them and set up flamboyant. All kinds of things were organized here, people talked about black women's books, discussions were held, concerts were given and women's day was celebrated. The photos I found are silent witnesses. This center was intended exclusively for black emigrant women to give them a safe place and was located in the middle of the city. Here she also made new contacts with the America with black writers and what I can especially remember from that time is that I went along very often and met a lot of people.

Around 2000 my mother worked at the RIZA, National Institute for Integrated Freshwater Management and Wastewater Treatment. She was a diversity and inclusion officer here, as we would call it now. My mother was way ahead of her time, in many companies they are only now thinking about diversity and inclusion and how to implement this. During that time she gave courses at several companies and shared her 'know how'.

My mother was a travel enthusiast. During her travels she always made contact with local people, wherever we were. She was always open to other people and their stories, recorded them and filmed a lot and she kept all the material. This is where her social involvement came to the fore again. When she came to a country, she didn't just want to visit the tourist spots, but we also went to eat with my people at home. We made personal contacts and got to know families.

The world knew my mother. Suddenly Maureen Watson was at our door. A storyteller from Australia. She had heard that if she went to the Netherlands she had to go to Maddy Tolud. In the weeks that followed, my mother organised several meetings for her so that she could tell her story in the Netherlands. Maureen stayed with us during those weeks.

My mother had contacts all over the world. Letter contact with Lyn Andrews, email contact with several famous people and bands. She traveled alone to America, Hawaii and Canada to look after a house there. Here she also made special contacts.

On Second Life she had a digital world called Woodstock. In it they organised exhibitions and concerts for people from all over the world. After her death the film people sent her nice wishes and thanked her for the platform she had given them.

She had intensive contact with the First Nation people from North America. She supported their struggle. She talked to them, supported their petitions, bought things from them and listened to their stories.

I remember my mother as a person who was always up to date, sharp and involved. You always had a listening ear with an opinion, but without (pre)judgment. Colourful, creative and involved. You always taught me to be myself and to accept others for who they are. This has also made me who I am.

Thank you mom.

Damione