About the Site
Using the Site
Headlining the Sports Page was developed as a student site for AP U. S. history high school students and college undergraduates. The site is designed to be visited the first time “in order.” In other words, follow the narrative and images in the links to the right beginning with “The Athletes/Their Sports,” then “Alice Coachman’s Story,” and “Althea Gibson’s story.” Following these links, work with the online exercises and practice DBQs in the “Exercises & DBQs” link. If you are having trouble, return to any narratives you need to review, and then try again. Most of all, while you are learning, enjoy the athlete’s stories.
Background
This site is an outgrowth of a two-semester requirement that is part of the doctoral program in history at George Mason University. The purpose of the Clio series of courses is to enable phd candidates to become familiar enough with the marriage of history and new media to produce well-designed, quality scholarship on the web.
The personal goal of this site is two-fold. One objective is to address the void of scholarly internet research on the subject of African American female athletes. Objective number two seeks to enhance the genre of teaching web sites by creating a site designed for students. This site is to be distinguished from those that are developed principally for teachers, or those that are primilarly online exhibits, archives, or essays, for which teaching is a secondary goal. Please feel free to contact me, Jennifer Lansbury, with any comments or suggestions for improving the site.
In preparing the teaching aspects of this site, I contacted teachers of the AP U. S. history course and several college history professors. I would like to thank Dr. Mills Kelly of George Mason University for introducing me to the concept of the scholarship of teaching and learning, and challenging me to first consider the learning goals of this site. I would also like to thank Ms. Brenda Fairbairn, AP history teacher at Lafayette High School in Williamsburg, Virginia, for her invaluable insight that helped me clarify the student-learning objectives found on the teacher’s page.
Finally, for helping bring me into this century, I would like to thank Dr. Roy Rosenzweig and Dr. Paula Petrik, both of George Mason University. Their insistence that phd students can do history through new media, coupled with their patient instruction of the Clio series, made this site possible.
Credits
The research that underpins this site first appeared in the form of a scholarly article in the Journal of Sport History, published by The North American Society for Sport History. See Jennifer H. Lansbury, “'The Tuskegee Flash’ and ‘the Slender Harlem Stroker’: Black Women Athletes on the Margin,” Journal of Sport History 28 (Summer 2001): 233-252. The newspaper articles that comprised the primary sources for the narrative and argument came from the following newspapers:
White Press
New York Times (1939–1948, 1949–1958)
Chicago Tribune (1939–1948, 1950–1958)
Boston Globe (1939–1948, 1950–1958)
Atlanta
Constitution (1939–1948, 1950–1958)
Black Press
Baltimore Afro-American (1939–1948, 1950–1958)
Chicago Defender (1939–1948, 1950–1958)
Pittsburgh Courier (1939–1948, 1950–1958)
New York Age
(1939–1948, 1950–1958)
A special thanks to the helpful assistants in the Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room at the Library of Congress who facilitated my research into comparing the white and black press portrayal of Coachman’s and Gibson’s careers.
Images
Home Page
Alice Coachman: http://www.shider.com/history/coachman.htm
Althea Gibson: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/althea_gibson.html
The Athletes/Their Sports
Alice Coachman: http://www.shider.com/history/coachman.htm
Althea Gibson: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/althea_gibson.html
Babe Didrickson Zaharis: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/features/1999/awards/women/
1941 Tuskegee Tigerettes: Courtesy
of the Darnaby Collection, Tuskegee University Archives
Members of 1940 women’s tennis team: http://www.notredamecollege.edu/athletics/history/then.html
African American man at bus station: Delano, Jack. "At
the Bus Station in Durham, North Carolina." 1940. America
from the Great Depression to World War II: Photographs from the FSA-OWI,
1935–1945 [http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsowhome.html][ppmsc
00199](April 16, 2004).
Alice Coachman’s Story
Alice Coachman: http://www.shider.com/history/coachman.htm
Coachman atop Olympic podium: http://www.nwhp.org/tlp/biographies/coachman/coachman_bio.html
Coachman edging out Stella Walsh: http://www.transgender.org/tg/tvals/tvsep00.htm
Coachman clearing the bar for Tuskegee: http://www.aetna.com/foundation/aahcalendar/1991coachman.html
Peanut oil article: Article recreated from primary source using
Photoshop Elements 2.0. Source: Baltimore Afro-American, 13 July 1940,
p. 19.
Althea Gibson’s Story
Althea Gibson: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aaworld/reference/articles/althea_gibson.html.
Image flipped horizontally for design purposes using Photoshop Elements 2.0.
Gibson in later years: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/sports/092903_sp_althea_obit.html
Gibson on cover of Sports Illustrated: http://www.blackwebportal.com/wire/
Gibson in action at Wimbledon: http://www.mentors.ca/mp_sports.html
Gibson as U. S. national tennis champion: http://espn.go.com/abcsports/wwos/rtr/raisetheroof.html