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WNYC “All of It”: Full Bio: ALthea Gibson

ALL OF IT is a show about culture and context. Our ‘Full Bio’ this month will focus on tennis great Althea Gibson, who broke barriers as one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line and compete on an international stage in tennis.

”We’re spending the week talking to Sally Jacobs, author of the biography Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson.
— Alison Stewart, All of It

“Full Bio,” All of It with Alison Stewart (podcast), produced by WNYC and distributed by NPR, February 19 –22, 2024.

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WaPo: How U.S. institutions took an African teen’s life, then lost his remains

His name was Sturmann Yanghis. He was a 17-year-old South African brought by ship to the United States in 1860 with four other young men billed in the press as ‘wild African savages’ who had ‘never before been brought into contact with civilization.’ Each represented a different Indigenous group.

… The show, however, was largely a lie. The five men were not wild savages but laborers, most of them from the bustling city of Port Elizabeth, according to one South African newspaper.
— Sally H. Jacobs

Sally H. Jacobs, “How U.S. institutions took an African teen’s life, then lost his remains,” Washington Post, December 3, 2023.

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Sports Gazette: Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson by Sally H. Jacobs

Althea Gibson’s legacy is complex and largely forgotten.… In Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson, Sally H. Jacobs meticulously unravels the mystery so delicately attached to the woman that placed the tennis racket into the hands of the Williams sisters.

Jacobs presents a truly sensitive chronicle, within which she dissects the complicated life of a conflicted woman, apathetic of the society she was reluctantly destined to represent.
— Sports Gazette

Sam France and Aayush Majumdar, “SG book reviews – Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson by Sally H. Jacobs,” Sports Gazette, December 4, 2023.

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Post and Courier: ‘Althea’ an important reminder of a towering figure in athletics

‘Althea’ is a very effective, and perhaps much needed reminder of what a towering figure Gibson was, and should remain. After all, as its author so eloquently puts it, it was Althea Gibson who, ultimately, put the racket in Serena’s hand.
— Rosemary Michaud

Rosemary Michaud, "‘Althea’ an important reminder of a towering figure in athletics," The Post and Courier, Nov 19, 2023.

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WaPo: 50 notable works of nonfiction from 2023

In 1957, Althea Gibson became the first Black tennis player to win the Wimbledon singles title. She also accomplished a remarkable number of other firsts. Jacobs’s lively book is one of two Gibson biographies published this year: Ashley Brown’s “Serving Herself,” a bit more academic in approach, is equally worthy. (Book World review.)
— Washington Post

Washington Post Editors and Reviewers, “50 notable works of nonfiction from 2023,” Washington Post, November 15, 2023.

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