The world of sports has long been a contested playing field for social change. On today’s episode, we discuss the lives, careers, and lasting legacies on and off the tennis courts of two great women athletes—Althea Gibson and Billie Jean King. First, we welcomed Ashley Brown, the author of Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson, to speak about the barrier breaking tennis player and golfer. We then interviewed Susan Ware, the author of American Women: A Concise History, American Women’s History: A Very Short Introduction, and Game, Set, Match: Billie Jean King and the Revolution in Women’s Sports, published by UNC Press, who shared with us how King leveraged her career as a form of activism for gender equality, and discussed how sports have changed for women athletes in the years since.
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