Coachman was born in 1923 in the segregated South. African American athletes couldn’t use the training facilities or compete in organized sporting events. Alice trained by running barefoot in fields and dirt roads. She improvised by jumping over tied rags, ropes and sticks.

While still in high school, she broke both the collegiate and national high jump records… and she did it barefooted! At Tuskegee Institute, Alice held an incredible 25 national titles, an even greater achievement, considering the hurdles and inequality she had to overcome.

In 1948, she won Olympic gold… the first ever by a Black woman.