Ashley Brown

Two decades after the death of Althea Gibson — considered the most famous Black sportswoman of the mid-20th century — UW-Madison professor Ashley Brown has written a comprehensive 600-page biography of the professional tennis player and golfer. Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson relies on extensive archival research, oral histories and new interviews to present an eye-opening account of how she negotiated race and gender challenges during a pivotal and often volatile time in American history. Brown, the Allan H. Selig Chair in the History of Sport and Society at UW-Madison, sets a high bar with her first book. Seating is limited and registration is required, but Brown’s conversation with Moe also will be livestreamed on Crowdcast.

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Caroline McDonnell/Oxford University Press

The cover of "Serving Herself" by Ashley Brown.

The cover of "Serving Herself" by Ashley Brown.

media release: Live @ MTM: Ashley Brown in Conversation with Doug Moe

A compelling narrative of the trials and triumphs of tennis champion Althea Gibson, a key figure in the integration of American sports and, for a time, one of the most famous women in the world.

From her start playing paddle tennis on the streets of Harlem as a young teenager to her twelve Grand Slam tennis wins to her professional golf career, Althea Gibson became the most famous black sportswoman of the mid-twentieth century. In her unprecedented athletic career, she was the first African American to win titles at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. In this comprehensive biography, Ashley Brown narrates the public career and private struggles of Althea Gibson (1927-2003). Based on extensive archival work and oral histories, Serving Herself sets Gibson's life and choices against the backdrop of the Great Migration, Jim Crow racism, the integration of American sports, the civil rights movement, the Cold War, and second wave feminism. Throughout her life Gibson continuously negotiated the expectations of her supporters and adversaries, including her patrons in the black-led American Tennis Association, the white-led United States Lawn Tennis Association, and the media, particularly the Black press and community's expectations that she selflessly serve as a representative of her race. 

A riveting life and times portrait, Serving Herself offers a revealing look at the rise and fall of a fiercely independent trailblazer who satisfied her own needs and simultaneously set a pathbreaking course for Black athletes.

Ashley Brown is the Allan H. Selig Chair in the History of Sport and Society and Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is an expert on sport history, women’s history, and African American history.