She grew up during the Great Depression in the segregated
American South, where the deck was stacked heavily against a
bright black girl athlete. Title IX was so far in the future
that Neil Armstrong’s stroll on the moon was practically ancient
history by the time legislation was passed to require women’s
sports funding was on parity with men’s. (It’s still got a ways
to go.) Heather Lang‘s picture book biography of Coachman, with
luminous illustrations by Floyd Cooper, is accessible enough to
appeal to new readers, and detailed enough to jump-start
students looking for an excellent candidate for a National
History Day project. As the first African-American woman to
become an Olympic gold medalist, Coachman shook the hand of a
king (George VI) and was celebrated with a parade 175 miles
long.