Serving herself : the life and times of Althea Gibson / Ashley Brown.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brown, Ashley, author.

Contributor:

Rosengarten Family Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gibson, Althea, 1927-2003.

Gibson, Althea.

African American tennis players--Biography.

African American tennis players.

Women tennis players--United States--Biography.

Women tennis players.

Tennis--United States--History--20th century.

Tennis.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 595 pages, 40 unnumbered leaves of unnumbered plates : illustrations (black and white) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2023.

Summary:

"Coming Up the Hard Way "Sometimes, in a tough neighborhood, where there is no way for a kid to prove himself except by playing games and fighting, you've got to establish a record for being able to look out for yourself before they will leave you alone. If they think you're an easy mark, they will all look to build up their own reputations by beating up on you. I learned always to get in the first punch." Althea Gibson, 1958 Four days after her historic victory at Wimbledon in July 1957, Althea Gibson sat at the head table between her parents during a luncheon held in her honor at New York City's famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Wearing a dress of red and blue silk with a corsage pinned to her lapel, she listened as local officials sang her praises. Gibson was "an American girl," "a real lady," and "a wonderful ambassador ... [and] saleswoman" for the country, they said. Speaker after speaker reached for superlatives and generalities to pay tribute to Gibson for rising improbably from "the sidewalks of New York," in the words of Mayor Robert F. Wagner, to winning the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. The commissioner of the department of commerce and public events cut closest to the truth with six words: "She came up the hard way""-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Coming up the hard way

Queer cosmopolitan

The making of a strong Black (woman) contender in the South

From the Florida A&M to Forest Hills

Integration

Resurfacing

Press(ing) matters

Changeover

Finding fault with a winner

Game over

New frontiers

Winner who hasn't won yet

The harvest

Two deaths.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Rosengarten Family Fund.

Other Format:

Online version: Brown, Ashley. Serving herself

ISBN:

9780197551752

0197551750

OCLC:

1334718053