0:00

I like to win. If I want to do something, I'd

0:02

like to do it right. And when I

0:04

walked that a lad to five thousand, pretty

0:06

bout they're waiting. But I didn't

0:08

worry bout anything, because I say, if

0:10

I can do it, I'd do it. Hello

0:16

from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan

0:19

and this is Encyclopedia Amanica,

0:22

Today's Olympian, reached the pinnacle of

0:24

her sport despite systemic

0:26

and familial barriers to doing so. She

0:30

specialized in the high jump, won

0:32

many US championships, and eventually

0:35

became the first black woman to win an Olympic

0:37

gold medal. She paved

0:39

the way for champions such as Wilma Rudolph,

0:42

Jackie Joyner, Kersey, and Alison

0:44

Felix, but her trailblazing

0:47

has often been forgotten because she competed

0:49

before television. Today

0:52

we're talking about Alice Coachman. Alice

0:56

was born on November ninth, nineteen twenty

0:58

three, in Albany, George. She

1:01

took to track and field at a young age, despite

1:03

lacking her parents' support. Deep

1:06

in the segregated South. Barred from

1:08

organized sports events and training grounds,

1:11

Alice improvised. She

1:14

ran barefoot on dirt roads and

1:16

used old equipment to work on her high jump.

1:20

In nineteen thirty eight, Alice enrolled

1:22

at Madison High School. There,

1:24

the boys track coach Harry E. Lash

1:27

noticed Alice's talent and nurtured

1:29

it. During her time

1:32

there, she broke both the high school and college

1:34

high jump records in the Amateur Athlete

1:37

Union National Track and Field Championship

1:40

Barefoot. Within a year,

1:42

she caught the attention of Tuskegee Institute

1:45

now known as Tuskegee University. Tuskegee

1:48

offered her a scholarship when she was just sixteen

1:50

years old. Over the next

1:53

nine years, Alice continued to dominate

1:55

the AAU championships. By

1:58

nineteen forty eight, she could say

2:00

she won ten national championships

2:02

in a row, breaking records

2:04

along the way. Still,

2:07

it was a time of mixed fortune. At

2:10

the peak of her athletic performance, World

2:12

War Two broke out the

2:14

Olympics were canceled in nineteen forty

2:16

in nineteen forty four. After

2:19

graduating from Tuskegee, Alice enrolled

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at Albany State College in nineteen forty

2:23

six, where she studied home economics

2:26

and science. She would

2:28

later become a teacher and track and field

2:30

coach. But before

2:33

that she would make history. It

2:36

was the summer of nineteen forty eight and the Olympics

2:38

were held in London after a twelve year

2:40

hiatus. A

2:43

heavy rain broke over England that early

2:45

August, lasting for days. On

2:48

the drizzly morning of August seventh,

2:51

eighty three thousand spectators gathered

2:53

to watch the closing track and field event. Up

2:56

to that point, no American woman had

2:59

taken the gold medal any of the competitions.

3:02

Alice made a name for herself by jumping

3:04

a stunning five feet six and one

3:07

eight inches in the high jump. She

3:09

surpassed the Olympic record, beat

3:12

Dorothy Tyler of Britain, and

3:15

jumped into the history books as the first

3:17

black woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

3:21

King George the sixth presented Alice

3:24

with her gold medal, and upon

3:26

her return home, she was greeted with a parade

3:29

in honor of her historic achievement. She

3:31

met Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt,

3:35

but still the racial attitudes of

3:37

the time diminished her accomplishment. The

3:40

mayor of Alice's hometown refused

3:42

to shake Alice's hand at her own honors

3:44

ceremony. Many

3:47

years later. In an interview with The Visionary

3:49

Project, Alice was asked if

3:51

she was put down by others when she won. She

3:54

said, there was nothing

3:56

they could say to me that could bring me down or make

3:59

me feel cheap, because I was champed.

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Alice's athletic career ended at the age

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of twenty four. She

4:07

went on to raise a family and became an elementary

4:10

and high school teacher. She

4:13

also created the Alice Coachman Track

4:15

and Field Foundation to aid young athletes

4:17

and former competitors in financial need. Alice

4:22

was honored as one of the one hundred greatest Olympians

4:24

in history at the Summer Olympic Games in

4:26

Atlanta in nineteen ninety six. She's

4:30

been inducted into nine different halls of fame,

4:33

including the National Track and Field Hall of

4:35

Fame and the US Olympic Hall of Fame.

4:38

Alice died on July fourteenth, twenty

4:40

fourteen, at the age of ninety in

4:43

Georgia. All month

4:45

We're talking about Olympians. For more

4:47

on why we're doing what we're doing, check out our newsletter

4:50

Wamanica Weekly. Follow

4:52

us on Facebook and Instagram at Encyclopedia

4:54

Wamanica Special thanks

4:57

to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator.

5:00

Talk to you tomorrow.