Raising the Bar
Raising the Bar
Alice Coachman and the Boundaries of Postwar American Identity, 1946–1948
This chapter chronicles the international athletic experiences of Alice Coachman, the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal, examining how her successes, especially at the 1948 Olympic Games, challenged the ideal image of American athleticism and, in turn, American identity. The relative invisibility of Coachman in the white sporting press indicates that she raised uncomfortable questions about race, gender, and American belonging. The interracial homecoming held in her hometown of Albany, Georgia, and a visit to Oval Office further expose how Coachman’s achievement required white America to rethink the relationship between race, gender, and American identity. While black sport culture lauded Coachman, they presented her as figure of black womanhood, reinforcing the centrality of traditional gender roles to ideal Americanness.
Keywords: Alice Coachman, Olympic Games, race, gender, black womanhood, American identity
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