Prize-winning journalist Sally H. Jacobs has constructed a substantial, significant portrait of Althea Gibson, an American athlete from an earlier era whose long strides garnered numerous awards and a place in the pantheon of exemplars for Black rights and recognition.

Born in the poverty of a sharecropping community in South Carolina, Althea’s fated rise to fame was underpinned when her family moved north. They were forced out by poor climate that devastated the cotton industry, which roughly coincided with the Great Depression. Their destination was Harlem, New York, where Althea learned and excelled at paddle tennis. With considerable boxing skills as well, she became a street fighter and something of a loner.

"Bringing Althea’s goals and accomplishments to life for a new, open-minded generation, Jacobs may spawn a fresh movement to offer this great and gritty legend wider, well-deserved, respectful acknowledgment."

But Althea was observed and supported in tennis lessons. She would not have chosen this sport, but ultimately it would carry her to international and historic fame. To obtain a place in national competition, she would need heavy backing. Black athletes were unable to compete at the exclusive clubs where players were selected.

Moving upward, Althea would find herself pleasantly surrounded by peaceful scenery and wearing crisp, clean garments as required for tennis players. These outfits showed off her height and long limbs, which are two advantages in the sport. Her trajectory would include further college-level education, world travel and a growing list of distinguished firsts. By 1957, she was prepared for Wimbledon, taking the women’s singles title and lauded in the British press --- not as a “Negro tennis player,” but as “brown, lean Althea Gibson.”

Jacobs, who won the George Polk Award and the Pulitzer Prize for her intrepid journalism, has diligently matched the better-known public history of her heroine with little-known facts about Althea’s personal life and her views on the roiling racial tensions of her time. Friends and family have made contributions, and a myriad of photographs accompany the narrative. She was never free from the bonds of prejudice on numerous levels.

When Althea left tennis for golf, she was offered no special deals by the industry or its advertisers, even as Black men were feted. In her later years, she experienced serious health issues that left her broke and depressed, though she was bolstered by the fund-raising efforts of her erstwhile doubles partner, Angela Buxton.

Bringing Althea’s goals and accomplishments to life for a new, open-minded generation, Jacobs may spawn a fresh movement to offer this great and gritty legend wider, well-deserved, respectful acknowledgment.