Debi Thomas, 1967

Thomas in 1988. Photo credit - Photograph by Neil Leifer, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine

An Olympic figure skater and physician. The first African-American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics and the only African-American to win a medal in figure skating in the Winter Olympics.

Debra Janine Thomas was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and grew up in San Jose, California. She began skating at the age of five, and at the age of nine, she participated in her first competition, winning first place. It encouraged her to enter competitive skating and take formal lessons. She signed on with coach Alex McGowan, who trained until her retirement.

As a black girl in a white-dominated sport, Thomas often encountered discrimination, and judges favored the white contestants and gave better scores to her less-skilled competitors. That has not prevented her from skating, and at the age of 12, she won the silver medal at the national novice finals. Her career took off four years later when she was selected as the Los Angeles Figure Skating Club’s representative.

While most professional athletes do not attend college or take a gap year, Thomas continued her training and began her academic education as an engineering student at Stanford University. In her freshman year, 18 years old Thomas won the US national title, becoming the first black skater to hold a national title in ladies’ singles figure skating. This year, she also won first place at the World Championships. In recognition of her achievements, she received the ABC’s Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year award of 1986. Despite suffering an Achilles tendinitis in both of her ankles, Thomas reached second place in the 1987 US Nationals and reclaimed her champion title the following year.

At 21, Thomas competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, winning the bronze medal and making history as the first black athlete medalist at this competition. After the Olympics, she added another World Championship to her record before retiring from amateur skating to focus on her studies. She continued to skate as a performer for Stars on Ice and won the World Professional Championships three times.

In 1991, at 24, after receiving her bachelor’s degree, she retired from skating to further her education at Northwestern University Medical School. Afterward, she specialized in orthopedic surgery and completed her residency at Charles R. Drew University. After a one-year fellowship at Centinela Hospital’s Dorr Arthritis Institute in Inglewood, Thomas worked at Carle Clinic in Urbana, Illinois, and in 2010 she opened her own practice in Richlands, Virginia. In 2012, she had a psychiatric attack and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Then, her private practice failed, she got divorced, lost custody of her son, and declared bankruptcy. She had to close her practice and sell her Olympic medal to cover some of her debt.

In recent years she has been living with her partner in Virginia. In her short six years as a competitive figure skater, Thomas has changed the face of the sport by breaking stereotypes and promoting racial equality.

This post is also available in:

Español

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Please support us so we can publish more herstories about pioneer women.
Donate

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Please support us so we can publish more herstories about pioneer women.
Donate

 

“My advice is that going to the Olympics and winning a gold medal are great goals, but the real goal should be to be the best that you can be.”

“My advice is that going to the Olympics and winning a gold medal are great goals, but the real goal should be to be the best that you can be.”

Fun Facts

  • She credited her success to her mother, who drove her over 100 miles every day between home, school, and the ice rink.
  • The famous ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov was her choreographer for the Olympics.
  • At the 1988 Winter Olympics, the media referred to the rivalry between her and the German contestant Katarina Witt as the "Battle of the Carmens" because both used the music of Bizet's opera Carmen.
  • She represented the US Olympic Committee at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
  • President Bush selected her as a member of the US Delegation for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy.
  • At 44, she returned to the ice as part of The Caesars Tribute: A Salute to the Golden Age of American Skating.
  • In 2015, she appeared in an episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Awards

  • The Candace Award (1986)
  • 2 US national champion (1986, 1988)
  • A World Championships Gold medal (1986)
  • Olympic Bronze medal (1988)
  • 3 World Professional Championships (1988, 1989, 1991)
  • Inducted into the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame (2000)

This post is also available in: Español

Category: Sports
Tags: African-American Women, Athlete, and Physician

Shop & Support

Donate & Support
 
Our feminist project of wanderlust and equality-aspired community maps the HerStories of worldwide wonder women.
Explore the website for excellent guided tours, travel tips, unique landmarks, fun girlfriend getaways, events, and in-depth articles about gender, equality, space, and (not-told-enough) female legacy.

About the Project

 

Agnodice WWP
Activism & Feminism

Agnodice, c. 4th century BCE

The first female midwife and physician in ancient Athens.

According to the Roman author Gaius Julius Hyginus in his mythology story collection, Fabulae, Agnodice (or Agnodike) was born into a wealthy Athenian family during the 4th Century BCE. Growing up, she was aware of the high mortality rate of infants and mothers during childbirth and decided to become a physician. During that time, women were not allowed to practice medicine, so Agnodice disguised herself as a man, cut off her hair, wore men’s clothes, and traveled to Alexandria to study medicine under Herophilus. On her return to Athens, Agnodice began to practice medicine, focusing on women in labor, especially those who were embarrassed or refused to be treated by a man. In one case, in which a patient did not trust Agnodice as a male physician, Agnodice revealed her true gender. Afterward, the word spread amongst the women of Athens, and her reputation and popularity grew. Envying her success, the (male) doctors accused Agnodice of seducing her patients. She was sent to trial by Areopagus, the Athenian governing council, and had to expose herself as a woman to prove her innocence. She was accused of violating the law prohibiting women from practicing medicine. As a result of her patients’ campaign for her defense, a new law allowed freeborn women in Athens to study and practice medicine, making Agnodice officially the first female physician. For over 2000 years, Agnodice has symbolized determination and female equality. Her story has been often cited, in particular, in the context of the role of women in the medical profession. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Alice Coachman WWP
Sports

Alice Coachman, 1923-2014

High jump athlete, the first African-American woman to win an Olympic gold medal.

Alice Coachman was born in Albany, Georgia. While in elementary school, her teacher and aunt noticed her athletic skills and encouraged her to practice sports despite her parents’ objections. As a girl in the segregated south, Coachman had no access to athletic training facilities or the opportunity to compete in organized sports events (due to color and gender). Determine to develop her natural talent, Coachman used everything available to her – running with no shoes in fields and dirt roads and making high jump crossbars out of rope and sticks. During high school, Coachman caught the attention of the boys’ track coach, who took her under his wings and coached her. Within a year, she was spotted by a recruiter from Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama, and at 15, she got a scholarship. Her unusual jumping style, combined western roll, and straight jumping techniques helped her win the national championships in the next nine years. In 1939, at the age of 16, she started her scholarship at the Tuskegee Preparatory School, which in addition to studying and practicing, required mending uniforms and cleaning the school’s sports facilities. During this period, she won high jumps companions and national championships in the 50-meter dash, 100-meter dash, and the 400-meter relay team. She also won three conference championships as a guard on the women’s basketball team. At 23, Coachman received her degree in dressmaking and continued her education at Albany State College, where she studied Home Economics and science. In her late teens and early 20s, the years that were supposed to be the pick of her career, the Olympic Games were canceled because of WW2. Her first global stage appearance was made possible at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. On her Olympic tryouts, Coachman qualified to the US team with a high jump of 5 feet 4 inches, breaking the previous record by ¾ inch. At the Olympics high jump finals, she reached first place with a leap of 5 feet and 6⅛ inches on her first try, becoming the first black woman to win the gold medal and the only American woman to win a gold medal at the 1948 Games. On her return to the US, Coachman became a celebrity, she met President Truman and former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and various parades were held in her honor. Following the Olympic Games, 24 years old Coachman retired from her athlete career, with 34 national titles under her belt. She finished her degree at Albany State College and became a teacher and track-and-field instructor. In 1952, at the age of 29, she made history again when she signed as Coca-Cola Company’s spokesperson, becoming the first African-American woman to endorse an international product. In 1994, at 71, she established the Alice Coachman Track and Field Foundation. This non-profit organization supports young athletes in starting their careers and helps Olympic veterans adjust to life after retainment. Coachman died at the age of 90 of cardiac arrest. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Alice-Dunbar-Nelson-WWP
Literature & Poetry

Alice Dunbar Nelson, 1875-1935

A poet, journalist, playwright, and political activist. Associated with the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s.

Alice Ruth Moore was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of a Creole seaman and a former enslaved black seamstress. After graduating high school at 14, she attended a teacher-training program at Straight University, and at 17, she began teaching at an Elementary school in New Orleans. She became involved with activism at the Phyllis Wheatley Club and wrote for the Woman’s Era Club newspaper – the first newspaper created for and by African American women. In 1895, she published her first collection of poems, essays, and short stories titled “Violets and Other Tales.” That same year she moved to NYC, where she helped establish the White Rose Mission – a settlement house for colored girls. Furthering her education, she took courses at the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. Her writings for the Woman’s Era newspaper caught the attention of the poet and journalist Paul Laurence Dunbar, and in 1898, after two years of correspondence, she moved to live with him in Washington, DC, and they got married. Their relationship fertile their writing but was also disruptive and abusive. He raped her before they got married, and after three years of violent behavior, she left him and moved to Wilmington, Delaware. There, Dunbar taught at various institutes, including Howard High School, the Hampton Institute, and the State College for Colored Students. She never stopped studying, and at 32, she received her M.S degree from Cornell University. In 1913, Dunbar worked as the co-editor and writer for the A.M.E. Review – the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s newspaper. She met poet and civil rights activist Robert J. Nelson, and they got married in 1916. Although she was always involved in political activism, supporting the women’s rights movement and working toward the empowerment of women of color, it was only in 1918 that Dunbar-Nelson was appointed to an official role in the movement as a representative of the Woman’s Committee of the Council of Defense. In 1920, she became the co-editor of the progressive black newspaper, the “Wilmington Advocate.” In that same year, she published a literary anthology, aiming at black readers, titled “The Dunbar Speaker and Entertainer.” At 45, Dunbar-Nelson was a successful and popular writer, consistently publishing articles, columns, and essays in newspapers as well as in academic journals. Dunbar-Nelson became a speaker at various events, including the 1928 American Negro Labor Congress Forum in Philadelphia. After she moved with her husband to Philadelphia in 1932, her health declined, and two years later, she passed away at the age of 60. Dunbar-Nelson is a representative of the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Her writing is characterized by complex understandings of race, gender, and ethnicity. In her work, Dunbar-Nelson explored issues that she dealt with as a woman of color, especially her mixed-raced experiences, not belonging here or there. She wrote about her perspective of education opportunity, workplace environment, and social oppression, inspiring generations of black writers to come. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
Alice Walker WWP
Literature & Poetry

Alice Walker, 1944

A novelist, poet, and social activist. The first African-American woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Alice Malsenior Tallulah-Kate Walker was born in Eatonton, Georgia, the youngest of eight children of sharecroppers. At 8, she was injured in her eye after her brother played with a BB gun, causing her permanent blindness in one eye. The mark on her eye made her an easy target to her classmates, so she turned to poetry for comfort. Growing up in the segregated south, she attended an only black kids’ high school, from which she graduated valedictorian. Her high scores granted her a full scholarship to Spelman College, where she studied for two years before transferring to Sarah Lawrence College in NYC. In this period, Walker had an abortion which caused her suicidal thoughts. She wrote all about it in her poems. In 1965, at the age of 21, Walker moved to Jackson, Mississippi, and became active in the civil rights movement. She worked for the Legal Defense Fund of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and as a consultant in black history to the Friends of the Children of Mississippi Head Start program while serving as writer-in-residence in various academic institutes publishing essays and short stories. At 23, she married Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal, a Jewish civil rights attorney. At the time, interracial marriage was illegal in the south, and the couple had to travel to NYC to get married. On their return, they became the first legally married interracial couple in Mississippi since 1822, when the miscegenation laws passed. During their nine years of marriage, they suffered recurring harassment from the Ku Klux Klan. In 1970, at 26, Walker published her first novel, The Third Life of Grange Copeland, following the life of an abusive sharecropper husband and father. Three years later, she was appointed editor of Ms. Magazine, published her second poetry collection and her first collection of short stories. In 1976, Walker returned to NYC and published her second novel Meridian, about several civil rights activists in the south during the 1960s. In the late 1970s, she moved to California, where she wrote her best-known work, The Color Purple. Published in 1982, the novel explores the struggles of a black woman in the racist and patriarchal society of 1900s Georgia. The book was a best-seller, and in the following year, 39 years old Walker became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Later the novel was adapted into a film featuring Oprah Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg and a Broadway musical produced by Quincy Jones and Oprah Winfrey. In 1984, she co-founded the feminist publishing company Wild Tree Press. She deepened the world of some of her characters from The Color Purple in two of her novels, The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy, and created new characters that allowed her to delve into other social issues, such as female sexuality in By the Light of My Father’s Smile from 1998, and identity questions in Now Are the Time to Open Your Heart from 2005. Throughout the decades, Walker published seven novels, ten poetry collections, four short stories collections, four children’s books, and a dozen collections of essays and articles. In all of her work, Walker deals with the struggles of black people, especially women, and their experiences in sexist, racist, and violent surroundings. Often using Black vernacular, which highlights the hundreds of years of slavery and oppression, she had dealt with complex topics such as rape, isolation, bisexuality, and troubled relationships within the black community. Walker is a long-time social and political activist, promoting and fighting for various causes, from black and women’s rights to environmental issues, Palestinians’ fight for independence, and the elimination of female genital mutilation. This post is also available in: Español Read more...
View all

 

*Disclaimer: Please be aware that the information on this page is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. Learn more here.

Skip to content