Queen of the Track: Alice Coachman, Olympic High-Jump Champion

by Heather Lang and Floyd Cooper

A picture book biography about track star Alice Coachman starts with her childhood... read more

A picture book biography about track star Alice Coachman starts with her childhood in Albany, Georgia, and ends with her on the medal podium at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, the only American woman to win track-and-field gold. In between, Alice faced many challenges, from a father who didn’t think it was ladylike to spend so much time running and jumping to homesickness when she went away to high school to the racism that was part of the reality of growing up Black. But Alice persevered. Her gold medal performance in the high jump was the end of a duel with another athlete that held the crowd mesmerized, and when Alice won, she’d set a new Olympic record. More about Alice Coachman and the 1948 London Olympics follow the informative and lively narrative about Alice’s life. (Ages 6–9)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2013

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