[Review of] Wilma Rudolph, Wilma

Authors

Stewart Rodnon

Orginal Publication Date

1984

Journal Title

Explorations in Sights and Sounds

Volume

4

Issue

ess/vol4/iss1

First Page

72

Last Page

73

Abstract

In 1960 at the 18th modern Olympiad in Rome, Wilma Rudolph, twenty-years-old and black from Clarksville, Tennessee, became the first American woman to win three Olympic gold medals. Having experienced physical handicaps, racial prejudice, and bitter poverty, she had stretched her natural abilities to become the fastest woman runner of her day. Subsequently she received plenty of promotion but little cash, and her message calls attention to the precarious emotional and financial status of black American women, especially black American women athletes. This autobiography (Martin Ralbovsky, author of the excellent Destiny's Darlings, a boys-of-summer story of Little League baseball, is listed as "Editorial Associate"-whatever that means) is loaded with common-sense statements, hard looks at cliche responses, and survival techniques in a hostile environment.

Rights

Copyright, ​©EES, The National Association for Ethnic Studies, 1984