A Spectacular Leap

Through the stories of six athletes, including Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudloph and Jackie Joyner-Kersee - Jennifer Lansbury deftly follows the emergence of black women athletes from the African American community; their confrontations with contemporary attitudes of race, class, and gender; and their encounters with the civil rights movement.

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Through the stories of six athletes—Alice Coachman, Ora Washington, Althea Gibson, Wilma Rudloph, Wyomia Tyus, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee—Jennifer H. Lansbury deftly follows the emergence of black women athletes from the African American community; their confrontations with contemporary attitudes of race, class, and gender; and their encounters with the civil rights movement. Uncovering the various strategies the athletes used to beat back stereotypes, Lansbury explores the fullness of African American women’s relationship with sport in the twentieth century.