Books Set in North America; United States

Fast Girls: The 1936 Women’s Olympic Team, by Elise Hooper (2020)

 

This is a novel that focuses on the lives of four young women athletes who competed to make the 1936 United States Olympic track team. The novel is based on the lives of Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens, Louise Stokes, and Tidye Pickett.  Each woman came from very different backgrounds and the author takes the reader back to their origin stories.

 

Running, and athletics in general, were not considered “suitable” for women at the time, and the Olympics Committee threatened to cancel future women’s events.  A strong lobby, however, kept women’s sports in the Olympics.

 

Betty Robinson was from the Chicago area and had competed in the 1928 Olympics at age 16.  While in high school, she caught the eye of the men’s track coach and was allowed to join the men’s track team.  From there, she ultimately qualified for the 1928 Olympic trials.  She had hoped to be able to compete in future Olympics, but a small plane accident in 1931 (although the story has the incident occurring in 1932), left her seriously injured.  She was not expected to live, but sheer will-power got her walking again.  Once she was walking again, her brother-in-law urged her to try running.

 

Helen Stephenson was from a small farming town in Missouri.  She was tall and gangly, and always felt like a misfit.  Her father was a poor farmer who wanted her to work and earn money for the family.  Her mother, however, had gone to college and wanted her daughter to gain an education.  Helen loved to run, and running was a way for her to be herself.

 

Louise Stokes was from a working-class Black family in Malden, Massachusetts.  She loved running but knew that she needed to help with her family’s finances.  Her church and her town, however, supported her ambition to run and provided her with the funds to join the Olympic team.  She faced discrimination but did become one of the earliest Black professional runners.

 

Tidye Pickett is the least developed character in this novel.  She, too, was a Black runner who made it to the 1936 Olympic team while fighting racism.

 

The novel also briefly delves into the politics of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.  The United States Olympic committee had debated whether or not to allow athletes to compete in the Games that were being held in Nazi Germany.  The decision to compete was close.  Some of the team members themselves, questioned whether or not they should participate in the games.

 

This is an interesting novel and the author tried to tackle such topics as feminism, racism and sexual identity.  The novel takes place when women’s sports is in its infancy and all of the women initially face obstacles intended to halt their competing for fears that it is unlady-like and will impair their ability to have children in the future.

 

I would classify this book as a Young Adult novel.  It is a book I would have really enjoyed as a junior high student.  It was an interesting look at the beginning of women’s track competitions.

 

Read:  October 16, 2021

 

3.5 Stars

 

Books Set in Europe: Hamburg, Germany and Africa: Liberia

Destined to Witness: Growing Up Black in Nazi Germany, by Hans J. Massaquoi (1999)

After a whirlwind romance with the black Liberian son of a diplomat, the Bertha Baetz found herself pregnant, and in January 1926, gave birth to the author, Hans Massaquoi (Jan. 19, 1926 ~ Jan. 19, 2013).  Although the diplomat’s son promised to marry Bertha, the wedding never took place.  Instead, he went off to England to pursue his studies.  Meanwhile, Bertha and Hans, were welcomed into the diplomat’s home.  For the first 5 years of his life, Hans lived a life of wealth and privilege.

When the diplomat was called home, Bertha decided to remain in Hamburg, Germany with her son.  Their standard of living dropped dramatically, as Bertha was forced to look for jobs.  Around this time, the political climate was changing in Germany.  Like so many German children, he was indoctrinated into Nazi propaganda and dreamed of joining the Hitler Youth, like many of his comrades.

Although his was often called names by neighborhood bullies, he was generally accepted by his peers.  His teachers, however, were another story.  Many of his teachers would single him out for his black skin.  When his was denied entry into the Hitler Youth, he begged his mother to plead his case for him, arguing that he was “German just like everyone else.”  His mother fiercely protected her young son.  Throughout this memoir, the love he has for his mother is evident on nearly every page.

Through his teachers, he learns that his is “non-Aryan”, thus there is no place for him in Nazi Germany.  As Nazi Germany begins its conquest of Austria, and the war begins, Hans and his mother experience the trauma of the war and their beloved city of Hamburg being bombed.  Although Hans has been informed that after the Nazi are “done” with the Jews, he will be next.  Despite this, the author makes only an off-handed reference to Jewish extermination or the concentration camps.  I found this to be troubling.  Perhaps, at the beginning of the war, he was too young to fully understand what was happening, and by the end of the war, he and his mother were simply trying to survive.

After the War, Hans hangs out among the docks of Hamburg and often passes himself of as an American GI.  He has dreams of one day immigrating to the United States, where some of his mother’s relatives moved before the War broke out.

While still in his early 20’s, he made contact with his father, now an important businessman in Liberia.  He felt that staying in Germany would be a dead-end for him, thought that moving to Liberia would lead him to a better life.  His relationship with his father, however, quickly turned sour.  After a few years in Liberia, his mother’s relatives eventually arranged for him to immigrate to the United States.  In 1950, at age 26, he entered the United States.  After being erroneously drafted into and serving in the Army, he earned a degree in journalism.  

His mother was finally able to immigrate to the United States, where the two were reunited.  Hans ultimately became a managing editor of Ebony magazine.  As a post-script, Hans died in 2013 on his 87th birthday.

Read:  April 3, 2021

4 Stars