Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1 Coming Up the Hard Way
Chapter 2 A Queer Cosmopolitan
Chapter 3 The Making of a Strong Black (Woman) Contender in the
South
Chapter 4 From Florida A&M to Forest Hills
Chapter 5 Dis/Integration
Chapter 6 Resurfacing
Chapter 7 Press(ing) Matters
Chapter 8 Changeover
Chapter 9 Finding Fault with a Winner
Chapter 10 Game Over
Chapter 11 New Frontiers
Chapter 12 A Winner Who Hasnât Won Yet
Chapter 13 The Harvest
Chapter 14 Two Deaths
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Ashley Brown is Assistant Professor and the Allan H. Selig Chair in the History of Sport and Society at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an expert on sport history, women's history, and African American history.
A sprawling—and in many ways outstanding—biography...[that] uses
the story of Althea Gibson—'the preeminent African American female
athlete of the twentieth century'—to explore the history of
integration in American sports....Honest, sympathetic and nuanced,
a labor of love and respect that should go a long way to remedy the
unpardonable disappearance of Althea Gibson from the American
imagination.
*Tunku Varadarajan, Wall Street Journal*
Brown's narrative is at its best when it contextualizes the most
consequential moments in Gibson's career within the backdrop of
broader racial tensions....Serving Herself is a stark reminder of
how, in some ways, little has changed in tennis since Gibson's
trailblazing career began more than three-quarters of a century
ago—and how hard it still is for a Black woman to succeed in the
sport.
*Kelsey Butler, Bloomberg*
A monumental, comprehensive biography that blends Gibson's
remarkable athletic accomplishments with the inspirational story of
how she lived through the Jim Crow era and navigated segregation,
racism, and gender discrimination, all the while fighting for the
integration of sports. After triumphing at Wimbledon, Gibson
pledged to 'wear the title with dignity and humility'; this fine
tribute makes clear that she did just that.
*Booklist (starred review)*
Brown's absorbing exploration of Gibson's lengthy athletic
career...introduces the elite 'high-toned and ultra-white' world of
tennis and golf in an accessible and entertaining way....The book
is not just for sports fans: it is set against the vivid backdrop
of twentieth century social history, detailing the growth of
women's athletics, integration, and the 1970s golf and tennis
explosion, arcing upwards even as Gibson lost power and speed.
Serving Herself traces a tennis player's iconoclastic journey to
athletic greatness.
*Foreword (starred review)*
A highly recommended, inspirational title....With interviews,
personal correspondence, newspaper articles, archives, records, and
recordings, Brown gives readers a full portrait of Gibson.
*Library Journal (starred review)*
An in-depth look at how racism and homophobia challenged the life
of a sports superstar. Brown...makes her book debut with a
thoroughly researched, insightful biography of Althea Gibson....A
palpable portrait of an aggressive, ambitious woman whose race made
her an outsider in the White-dominated sports world and whose
gender nonconformity—refusal to meet expectations about how a Black
woman should look and behave—made her a social misfit....Brown
sensitively examines Gibson's refusal to be seen as 'a
representative' of her race, offering context for her views on
social justice, women's rights, and African American causes.
*Kirkus*
Ashley Brown's riveting and truly stunning biography of Althea
Gibson fills a gaping hole in the historical literature on the
experiences and contributions of African American athletes. Brown's
comprehensive and insightful account of Gibson's extraordinary
odyssey-a life filled with both triumph and disappointment, ranging
from the streets of Harlem to the hallowed tennis courts of
Wimbledon and Forest Hills-offers an unblinking look at the
challenges that racial and gender discrimination posed for even the
most talented of African American women.
*Raymond Arsenault, author of Arthur Ashe: A Life*
Ashley Brown's critical feminist biography of Althea Gibson places
her squarely-and queerly-at the center of mid-twentieth century
American history. Thanks to a perfect match between subject and
biographer, Althea Gibson will finally get the recognition and
respect she craved and so often lacked during her lifetime.
*Susan Ware, author of Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the
Revolution in Women's Sports*
Tennis is a sport that imposes the rigid boundary of its
rectangular court. The tennis champion Althea Gibson, however,
devoted her life on and off the court to variously defying,
finessing, transgressing, and transcending period norms of race,
class, and gender. In this incisive, engaging biography, Ashley
Brown both restores Gibson to her place in the athletic pantheon
and unflinchingly illustrates the price she paid.
*Samuel G. Freedman, author of Breaking the Line: The Season in
Black College Football That Transformed the Sport and Changed the
Course of Civil Rights*
What does it mean to be an individual when everyone else insists
that you are foremost a representative of a category? Althea
Gibson, one of the most important sports figures of the twentieth
century, constantly juggled the challenges of breaking barriers in
the elite worlds of tennis and golf and wanting to compete at the
highest levels without the baggage that 'the first Black' and/or
'the first woman' routinely faced. Ashley Brown's comprehensive
biography offers searing insight into the history of sports
integration through the life of this scrutinized, underappreciated,
and underpaid pioneer in Jim Crow America. It is crucial that we
know and remember this not-so-distant history that paved the way
for latter-day tennis stars like Serena Williams and Venus
Williams.
*Tera W. Hunter, author of Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black
Marriage in the Nineteenth Century*
Brown (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison) has revised her 2017
dissertation on Althea Gibson into a highly readable book... This
stellar biography stands as a tribute to the bravery and
perseverance of a pioneer.
*Choice*
Brown has provided a microscopic account of the life and times of
Althea Gibson. She not only provides detailed information on
Gibson's tennis and sporting ups and downs, but also her personal
life and her attitudes to major issues of her times. Brown
carefully examines and provides valuable information on the
internal dynamics and operation of the various orbits that Gibson
interacted with, in both America and overseas. She also has an
acute sense for the major shifts and changes that occurred in
America and weaves together this broader information with the
minutiae of Gibson's life. Brown writes with insight and
understanding in what can only be described as a splendid and
outstanding work of scholarship on Althea Gibson, this champion
tennis player.
*Braham Dabscheck, Sporting Traditions*
A captivating biography about the ups and downs of Gibson's life
and career as a Black female athlete in the mid-20th Century.
*Madeline MacClurg, Golf Digest*
[A] well-argued and expansive sports biography, in which a
narrative of sport facilitates the examination of marginalized
experiences... Brown moves beyond traditional sport hero
biographies by arguing that Gibson's life is a unique vehicle for
exploring the intersection of race, gender, sport, class, and
place... Interdisciplinarity is difficult, but Brown
comprehensively delivers, forging new connections between
traditional sport histories, gender studies, and social history- a
welcome, refreshing direction of scholarship.
*Hillary R. Anderson, Journal of Sport History*
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