Publisher's Weekly Review
Journalist Jacobs (The Other Barack) offers an affecting biography of Althea Gibson (1927--2003), the "first Black woman to be the number-one tennis player in the world." Growing up in Harlem, Gibson suffered frequent beatings by her father and was by the age of 13 among the neighborhood's "toughest streetfighters." Her fortunes changed when Buddy Walker, a saxophonist who also worked with city police to supervise kids playing on the streets, noticed her athleticism and bought her two tennis rackets. Chronicling Gibson's ascent to the top of the sport, Jacobs covers how the wealthy backers of Harlem's Black Cosmopolitan Tennis Club rallied behind her, eager to "sponsor a member of their group who showed promise," which led to her winning several national tournaments and becoming the first African American player to compete at the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, where she won singles titles in 1957. Jacobs emphasizes the difficulties Gibson faced during and after her tennis career, including discrimination from the tennis establishment (many speculated the decision to leave her off the 1956 American Whiteman Cup team was driven by racism) and constant financial struggles--because women's tennis had not yet become lucrative, for the first eight years of Gibson's career she "earned so little money that she had never once had to file a tax return." Thoroughly researched and movingly told, this warts-and-all portrayal of Gibson's life is a winner. (Aug.)
Kirkus Review
A noted journalist chronicles the tumultuous life of the first Black American tennis superstar. Jacobs, author of The Other Barack, presents a comprehensive and elegantly written life of Althea Gibson (1927-2003), one of the greatest athletes America has produced, capturing the considerable triumphs and obstacles she met throughout her life. The author is particularly adept at describing the personal and social conditions in which Gibson rose. An abused daughter languishing on the streets of Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance and the Depression, she flourished on the court, breaking the color barrier and rising to the top in the wealthy White sport of tennis. Jacobs also describes the contributions of Gibson's supporters and benefactors, who made her Grand Slam championship career possible, including Sugar Ray Robinson, several top women players of the day, and Hubert A. Eaton and Robert W. Johnson, civil rights leaders and tennis aficionados who instilled discipline, refinement, and excellence in her game and life. Jacobs writes compellingly and sensitively about societal pressures that the complex and multitalented Gibson endured, including from an often critical Black press (that sometimes trafficked in rumors about her sexuality), to not only excel on the court, but to stand at the forefront of the mid-20th-century Civil Rights Movement despite her natural reticence about such matters. Gibson, writes the author, "let her success…speak for her and for the potential of her race, rather than her raised fist." As Jacobs demonstrates, such success paved the way for Black players such as Arthur Ashe, Zina Garrison, and Venus and Serena Williams. The author profiles Gibson in full, including her stint with the U.S. State Department, her magnanimous contributions to youth tennis instruction, and the loneliness and financial difficulty of her later life. The book is a fascinating study of Gibson through the prism of 20th-century America. An essential book about an incomparably authentic American pioneer and the times in which she lived. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
This important book honors the legacy of Althea Gibson, a tennis superstar who shattered racial, gender, and class barriers. She dominated the sport in the 1950s, becoming the first African American to win a Grand Slam tournament (the 1956 French Open). She then won back-to-back U.S. Opens in 1957 and 1958, when she also took Wimbledon. In this comprehensive biography, award-winning journalist Jacobs (The Other Barack, 2011) illuminates Gibson's complex life as a descendant of slaves whose raw determination, athletic talent, and guidance from kind-hearted benefactors helped her rise to tennis' highest ranks. Jacobs captures the period's historical and social context, including Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, detailing how Gibson was criticized because she refused to be a "crusader" for the cause. Gibson became a celebrity and paved the way for many African American athletes, only to spend her later years struggling to make ends meet as a professional golfer, goodwill ambassador, and athletic commissioner. A welcome counterpart to another recent Gibson biography, Ashley Brown's Serving Herself (2023), celebrating a trailblazing and noteworthy American.
Library Journal Review
When World War II ended, women and Black people sought a more equitable place within society, especially considering the contributions and sacrifices they had made for the country's war effort. George Polk Award--winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Jacobs (The Other Barack) contends that no discussion of this shift can be held without considering Althea Gibson, whose life and achievements bridged this era. Jacobs deftly tells Gibson's story. Born into a family of sharecroppers in 1926 in South Carolina, Gibson moved to Harlem in 1930 for a better life than what was available in the segregated South, where racism prevailed. Her family remained downtrodden, but Gibson's athletic success in every sport she tried led her to tennis. She was a powerful and aggressive player whose mindset and style were often judged to be too masculine. She earned Wimbledon, French Open, and U.S. Open wins, but she still made virtually no money from the sport and faced racial barriers, even as the U.S. government used her on global tennis propaganda tours to show the world the successful integration of Black people into American society. Through extensive research and interviews, Jacobs reveals plenty about Gibson. VERDICT Recommended for tennis fans and readers interested in race.--Brian Renvall
