One of the first women’s track teams started at the all-black Tuskegee Institute in 1929. Just three years later, Louise Stokes and Tidye Pickett qualified for the 1932 Olympics in track and field, but weren’t allowed to participate in the event because of their race, which was held in Los Angeles. In 1936, in Berlin, Stoke and Pickett became the first African-American women to represent the U.S. in the Olympics. Alice Coachman, who was a star track and field athlete at the Tuskegee Institute, became the first woman to win the gold medal in the Olympics. Not to mention, she set records with high jump at the 1948 Olympics in London. Coachman probably would’ve won more medals if the 1940 and 1944 Olympics weren’t cancelled due to World War II.
Didn’t know this. Thanks for sharing!