Alice Coachman and Althea Gibson

Who has heard of Alice Coachman or Althea Gibson? I first heard about them just two weeks ago, during a Women in Sports class that I am enrolled in. Both black women, Alice Coachman was involved in track and Althea Gibson played tennis, during the 40's and 50's respectively. As black women, they both faced a number of hardships because of their gender and race, and their athletic achievements were often marginalized and disregarded by the media at the time.

Since she participated in a sport deemed suitable for men, Alice Coachman was often degraded by the white press's comments about her seemingly masculine traits. The black press at the time, trying to defend her, would often go out of their way to describe her beauty and slender figure, feminizing her. The white and black press effectively marginalized her athletic skills, and they instead focusing on her gender, since she participated in a sport perceived as masculine.

While Alice Coachman was genderized, Althea Gibson faced a more racialized focus by the press. Since tennis was perceived as acceptable for women, the white press would provide reporting more equal to her white counterparts. With the civil rights movement emerging, the black press wanted Alice Coachman to become a race hero, similar to Jackie Robinson. When Althea Gibson refused, the black press essentially turned on her, contending that she had an attitude problem. After turning on her, the black press would even go on to describe her as "mannish", an unheard of word for the black press to use to describe a black female athlete.

With the press genderizing and racializing them, Alice Coachman and Althea Gibson's historic athletic accomplishments have become marginalized and forgotten. In addition to dominating the Amateur Athletic Union's high jump competition from 1939 to 1948, Alice Coachman was the only American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in 1948. Althea Gibson won countless tournaments throughout her career, including back-to-back wins at both Wimbledon and U.S. Open tournaments. She was the first African-American to win Wimbledon.

Considering how the press was often disregarding their athletic feats and focusing on their gender or race, one has to wonder how they managed to stay motivated and focused. Alice Coachman and Althea Gibson must have had an extremely high level of intrinsic motivation. Marginalized due to their race and sex, they must have had some extrinsic motivation to prove to their critics that women and African-Americans are just as capable in athletics as anyone else. With their high levels of motivation and accomplishments, Alice Coachman and Althea Gibson proved to the world that women and African-Americans can play sports just as well as anyone else.

Eric Harnden
Kin 339i
M 7 PM