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In the 1932 Los Angeles Games Tydie Pickett and Louise Stokes of Tuskegee Institute made the U.S. Olympic track and field team. This was about the time that Rosa Parks began dedicating herself to destroying Jim Crow laws through involvement with the NAACP. These women opened the doors for the for future African American professional women and female Olympians, including Gabby Douglas who, in the 2012 London Olympics, became the first African American gymnast to win the most coveted prize in women's gymnastics--the Olympic all-around gold medal. In 1929, all-black Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, started one of the first women's track teams in the United States. In 1932, Stokes and Pickett qualified for Olympic competition on the 400-meter relay team, but U.S. Olympic officials replaced the black runners by white runners they had beaten. Again in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Pickett and Stokes qualified for competition. However, again U.S. Olympic officials replaced Stokes and Pickett with two white runners on their relay team, whom thy had previously defeated. The Olympic Games were cancelled in 1940 and 1944 because the world was at war with Germany. After Stokes and Pickett had been passed over in 1936, the next time a black American woman had a chance to compete in the Olympic Games was in 1948 in London. Audrey "Mickey" Patterson of Tennessee State became the first African woman in Olympic history to win a medal, a bronze medal for the 200-meter dash, the first time the 200-meter race was included for female competitors. A few days later, Alice Coachman became the first African American woman to win a gold metal in Olympic history. She won for the high jump. Audrey Patterson and Alie Coachman were only the beginning of a tide that would grow and produce African American Olympians in nearly every event the Olympic Games offered, from track and field to figure skating to gymnastics to tennis. Black American female Olympians throughout Olympic history represent an important contribution to changing the nation's and the world's perception of African Americans. Sunny Nash – Race Relations in America Sunny Nash writes on U.S. race relations through topics relating to her childhood and life that include Jim Crow laws, education, employment, food, music, film, early radio and television, entertainment, social media, internet technology, publishing, journalism, sports, the military, fashion, performing arts, literature, civil rights history, and social and political movements--past and present.
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black olympians, rosa parks, jim crow, sunny nash,
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