HERSTORY | ALICE COACHMAN

Alice Coachman was the first Black woman from any country to win an Olympic gold medal. Alice Coachman was born on November 9, 1923 in Albany, Georgia. She was the fifth of ten children born to Fred, a plasterer, and Evelyn Coachman.

While competing for her high school track team in Albany, she caught the attention of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. In 1943, Coachman entered the Tuskegee Institute college division to study dressmaking while continuing to compete for the school’s track-and-field and basketball teams. As a member of the track-and-field team, she won four national championships for sprinting and high jumping.

In 1948 she cleared the 5 feet 6 1/8-inch bar on her first attempt becaming not only the first black woman to win Olympic gold, but the only American woman to win a gold medal. After the 1948 Olympics, Coachman’s track career ended at the age of 24. She completed her degree at Albany State College (now University). In 1952, Coachman became the first Black female athlete to endorse an international consumer brand, Coca Cola.

Coachman was inducted into nine halls of fame including the National Track-and-Field Hall of Fame (1975) and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame (2004). Alice Coachman died on July 14, 2014 at the age of 90.

To read more: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/alice-coachman

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