Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson

by Ashley Brown

Overview

Winner, Herbert Warren Wind Book Award, United States Golf Association
Winner, Letitia Woods Brown Book Prize of the Association of Black Women Historians
Winner, Harry Shaw and Katrina Hazzard-Donald Award for Outstanding Work in African-American Popular Culture Studies, Popular Culture Association
Finalist, PROSE Award for Best Biography/ Autobiography from the Association of American Publishers

A 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 Herself sets 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 white-led United States Lawn Tennis Association, and the media, particularly the Black press and community's expectations that she selflessly serve as a representative of her race. An incredibly talented, ultra-competitive, and not always likeable athlete, Gibson wanted to be treated as an individual first and foremost, not as a member of a specific race or gender. She was reluctant to speak openly about the indignities and prejudices she navigated as an African American woman, though she faced numerous institutional and societal barriers in achieving her goals. She frequently bucked conventional norms of femininity and put her career ahead of romantic relationships, making her personal life the subject of constant scrutiny and rumors. Despite her major wins and international recognition, including a ticker tape parade in New York City and the covers of Sports Illustrated and Time, Gibson endeavored to find commercial sponsorship and permanent economic stability. Committed to self-sufficiency, she pivoted from the elite amateur tennis circuit to State Department-sponsored goodwill tours, attempts to find success as a singer and Hollywood actress, the professional golf circuit, a tour with the Harlem Globetrotters and her own professional tennis tour, coaching, teaching children at tennis clinics, and a stint as New Jersey Athletics Commissioner. As she struggled to support herself in old age, she was left with disappointment, recounting her past achievements decades before female tennis players were able to garner substantial earnings.

A compelling life and times portrait, Serving Herself offers a revealing look at the rise and fall of a fiercely independent trailblazer who satisfied her own needs and simultaneously set a pathbreaking course for Black athletes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197551752
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/07/2023
Pages:	616
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

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.

Table of Contents

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 Hasn't Won Yet
Chapter 13 The Harvest
Chapter 14 Two Deaths
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"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

"[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

"This richly detailed biography cements Gibson as one of the most important athletes of the 20th century, while exploring what happens after a star leaves the spotlight." — The Atlantic

From the Publisher

2022-10-28
An in-depth look at how racism and homophobia challenged the life of a sports superstar.

Brown, a scholar of African American, women’s, and sports history, makes her book debut with a thoroughly researched, insightful biography of Althea Gibson (1927-2003), the first African American inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, whose prowess extended to golf as well. Drawing on Gibson’s prolific media coverage, autobiographies, and archival sources, Brown creates 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. She preferred jeans, T-shirts, and shorts to tennis skirts; she kept her personal life private, inciting gossip about lesbianism. Born on a South Carolina farm, Gibson grew up in Harlem, where she played “any kind of ball” she could find. She was tall, strong, and ruthlessly competitive. Her innate talent was honed by coaches and mentors, and her career was supported by influential benefactors and patrons. They pushed her to finish high school, take a scholarship to college, and work on her demeanor. Brown recounts all of Gibson’s games, from her first tournament win in 1946; her 1950 debut at Forest Hills, “a shrine to tennis”; and her debut at the storied courts of Wimbledon in 1951. By 1958, Gibson was an undisputed star on the amateur circuit, winning Wimbledon, the U.S. Nationals, the French Championship, and five Grand Slam Singles. Supremely confident, she made forays into singing (including on The Ed Sullivan Show), acting, exhibition matches on tour with the Harlem Globetrotters, and golf, “the last American sport to admit Blacks on the elite level.” Though the narrative is overwhelmed by details of every game, 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.

A perceptive look at a driven woman.

Kirkus Reviews