Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson [Hardcover]

Serving Herselfis a comprehensive biography of Althea Gibson, one of the most important figures in African American women's sports history and one of the preeminent athletes of the twentieth century. Offering a portrait of the life and career of a complicated and unconventional figure, this book shows how Gibson reaped rewards as well as remonstrances for her extraordinary sports achievements and life-long defiance of social norms.Winner, Herbert Warren Wind Book Award, United States Golf AssociationWinner, Letitia Woods Brown Book Prize of the Association of Black Women HistoriansWinner, Harry Shaw and Katrina Hazzard-Donald Award for Outstanding Work in African-American Popular Culture Studies, Popular Culture AssociationFinalist, PROSE Award for Best Biography/ Autobiography from the Association of American PublishersA compelling narrative of the trials and triumphs of tennis champion Althea Gibson, a key figure in the integration of American sports and, for a time, one of the most famous women in the world.From her start playing paddle tennis on the streets of Harlem as a young teenager to her eleven Grand Slam tennis wins to her professional golf career, Althea Gibson became the most famous black sportswoman of the mid-twentieth century. In her unprecedented athletic career, she was the first African American to win titles at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.In this comprehensive biography, Ashley Brown narrates the public career and private struggles of Althea Gibson (1927-2003). Based on extensive archival work and oral histories,Serving Herselfsets Gibson's life and choices against the backdrop of the Great Migration, Jim Crow racism, the integration of American sports, the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and second wave feminism. Throughout her life Gibson continuously negotiated the expectations of her supporters and adversaries, including her patrons in the black-led American Tennis Association, the whitel3ç