Alice coachman biography african-american women

Coachman died on July 14,at the age of 90 in Georgia. In the months prior to her death, she had been admitted to a nursing home after suffering a stroke. Coachman has two children from her first marriage. Her second husband, Frank Davis, predeceased her. The Biography. We have worked as daily newspaper reporters, major national magazine editors, and as editors-in-chief of regional media publications.

Among our ranks are book authors and award-winning journalists. Our staff also works with freelance writers, researchers, and other contributors to produce the smart, compelling profiles and articles you see on our site. Coping with a society that discouraged women from being involved in sports, Coachman struggled to develop as an athlete.

When she reached high school, she easily made the track team. Tuskegee Institute recruiters began to notice her, and her coaches encouraged her to enrol there, thinking it would be an excellent opportunity for her. By the time she graduated from Tuskegee Institute, she had a trade degree in dressmaking and had captured four national track and field championship titles in the fifty and hundred-meter dashes, the four-hundred-meter relay, and the running high jump.

She was the fifth of Fred and Evelyn Coachman's ten children. Coachman was unable to access athletic training facilities or participate in organized sports because of the color of her skin. She trained using what was available to her, running shoeless along the dirt roads near her home and using homemade equipment to practice her jumping. Coachman attended Monroe Street Elementary School where she was encouraged by her year 5 teacher Cora Bailey and by her aunt, Carrie Spry, despite the reservations of her parents.

Lash to develop her skill as an athlete. Within a year she drew the attention of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. In she joined the Tuskegee Preparatory School at the age of 16 after being offered a scholarship. Coachman went on to graduate with a degree in dressmaking from the Tuskegee Institute in The following year she continued her studies at Albany State Collegereceiving a B.

Coachman dominated the AAU outdoor high jump championship from throughwinning ten national championships in a row. During the same period, Coachman won three conference championships playing as a guard on the Tuskegee women's basketball team.

Alice coachman biography african-american women

In the opinion of sportswriter Eric Williams, "Had she competed in those canceled Olympics, we would probably be talking about her as the No. Coachman's first opportunity to compete on a global stage was during the Olympic Games in London. She qualified for the US Olympic team with a high jump of 5 feet 4 inches 1. Her nearest rival, Great Britain's Dorothy Tylermatched Coachman's jump, but only on her second try.

Coachman was the only American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics in Her medal was presented by King George VI. Upon her return to the United States after the Olympics, Coachman had become a celebrity. Coachman's athletic career ended when she was Coachman died in Albany, Georgia on July 14,of cardiac arrest after suffering through respiratory problems.

She had a stroke a few months prior for which she received treatment from a nursing home. She had two children during her first marriage to N. Davis, which ended in divorce. Her second husband, Frank Davis, preceded her in death. Coachman broke jump records at her high school and college, then became the U. She is also the first African-American woman selected for a U.

Olympic team. Coachman was born the middle child to a family of ten children in rural Georgia, near the town of Albany. Her parents were poor, and while she was in elementary school, Coachman had to work at picking cotton and other crops to help her family meet expenses.