Jackie Joyner-Kersee has been many things in her lifetime-- Olympian, Heptathelete, Sports Agent, Volunteer, Role Model. She has been decorated for all of her roles, winning numerous honors which include the Olympic Gold medal (she has three, two for the women's heptathalon and one for the long jump), The Sporting News Man of the Year Award (the only woman ever to win it), the Humanitarian of the Year Award presented by the Volunteers of America, the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Outstanding Achievement, and the Glamour Woman of the Year Award. But awards and honors, records and almanacs, can only show so much about a person by commemorating her achievements. Jackie Joyner-Kersee's life is the story of a successful, determined African-American woman, whose ethnicity and gender played central roles in shaping her self-image, her path to success, and her greater life goal of bringing equality to blacks and to women. World records and humanitarian awards may immortalize her success, but Joyner-Kersee's strong pride in her identity has made her the individual who could earn that success.
Growing up, Jackie Joyner-Kersee developed a self-image based
on her identity as a young African-American female. Her home town
of East St. Louis, Illinois, underscored her racial background,
a predominately poor African-American community made famous by
a massive historical race riot of 1917. Aside from the being part
of a city with a racially-charged past, however, the African-American
community of East St. Louis played a key role in fostering the
development of Kersee as an athlete and as a person. The African-American
community networked in the Mary Brown Center "just around
the corner" from her home connected Kersee to the people
who, she says, "helped me to develop" and who "instilled
in me values and morals" (1). The African-American community,
embodied in her family, her neighbors, and the Mary Brown Center,
was key in shaping Kersee's self-image as a confident African-American
girl, giving her the "inspiration" she says she carried
with her throughout her career, and also introduced her to track
and field, when at age nine, she joined a co-ed community track
program (2). She began see her own strength as stemming from ethnicity
and gender, identifying with famous women athletes like Babe Didrickson,
the female Olympic golfer and javelin thrower, and Wilma Rudolph,
the African-American track Olympian who was particularly inspiring
to Kersee because, as Kersee said in an interview, she "never
allowed racial discrimination to make her bitter" even though
she was a three-time Gold medalist and "couldn't go into
restaurants or do things her white counterparts could" (3).
Through identification with these role models, Kersee could understand
that being an African-American female athlete would involve confronting
racism and sexism, but also that she was not alone in her aspirations,
and that she could succeed if she worked hard enough. She idolized
women who had defeated discrimination, reaffirming her pride in
her race and her gender and preparing herself for the rocky road
which would await her in her athletic career.
Confident of herself and infused with community strength, Kersee
pursued that rocky path of the African-American female athlete.
Her ethnicity and her gender had given her a strong sense of herself
and built her confidence by giving her heroines and community
ties, but at the same time, her background also presented her
with obstacles of racism and sexism. As she progressed out of
the supportive social network of East St. Louis to Lincoln High
School and UCLA, she was constantly encountered discrimination,
feeling, as she says, that "people were always trying to
find something wrong with me as a female athlete trying to excel"
(4). In her childhood, Kersee had been limited in her training
by her poverty, by her inability to afford new shoes or access
a sand pit, but in high school and beyond, where funds existed,
she was still placed at a disadvantage because of her race and
gender, impeded by a host of small obstacles which included being
forced to practice at late hours so that boys could use the gyms
first (5). Her background "was just not the most positive
thing" to have for her career in terms of her treatment,
Kersee says (6). Even people who admired her athleticism often
pigeonholed her in her race and her gender, like Fred Thompson,
for example, coach of the 1988 Olympic track team, who commented
that Jackie was a great athlete-- a go-getting "lady"
(7). When she decided to break into being a sports agent after
her sports career, Kersee's race and gender meant she would again
be the minority-- she would be one of only 10-15 women agents,
one of 5 who were black-- and she would again make considerably
less money than men in the same field (8).
Kersee's experiences with racism and sexism during her athletic
career, and her strong ties to her African-American community
of East St. Louis, formed within her a strong, lifelong resolve
to inspire greater ethnic and gender-based acceptance. Her example
as a successful, black, female athlete is only one small part
of this greater life mission, which has become a crusade expressed
in efforts in community development, the establishment of girls'
sports programs, involvement in business relations, and the projection
of a positive female image of strength. Her strong ties to the
African-American community of East St. Louis inspired her to establish
a 37-acre Boys and Girls Club there to replace the closed-down
Mary Brown Center. She wanted to ensure that young African-American
children could have, she says, "the same opportunities"
to learn, play, work, and excel that were so important to her
own development as a strong black person (9). She may be called
by some "the greatest woman athlete in history," but
to Kersee, what it is essential is to "keep things in perspective"
and "to remember where I came from" (10).
Kersee also has made greater gender equality a central goal in
her life mission. Through her Boys and Girls club, she established
a special tradition of annual Jackie Joyner-Kersee relays for
700 East St. Louis girl athletes, which in involves both races
and a constructive "motivational" session to boost the
confidence of the young, African-American female athletes (11).
She speaks often of her pride as a "tomboy" to young
girls, encouraging them to participate in competitive sports and
to feel they can succeed in the stereotypically male arena of
athletics. Kersee has also become the icon of feminine strength
for all women, an embodiment of her now-famous statement that
being a muscular female athlete is "a kind of grace"
(12). Glamour magazine, a fashion magazine which traditionally
promotes female images of weakness, subservience, and gentility,
was even moved to name her Woman of the Year for her many achievements.
In the business world, Kersee as a registered NFL agent established
her own firm, Elite Sports Marketing, to encourage more woman
to become involved in the business side of sports and in major
sporting decisions, beginning with the 1999 State Games of America
in St. Louis, for which Kersee was the spokeswoman (13). Women
around the world look up to Kersee as a role model, a heroine,
an idol, and she continually works to make herself a positive
force for female empowerment in sports, business, and in the creation
of each woman's self-image.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee is often called the greatest black female
athlete who ever lived, but judging from her life, she probably
would be happier to have others
surpass her. Strong ties to African-American social networks growing
up and early encouragement in sports helped to inform within Jackie
a strong pride in her race and her gender, and provided key markers
for her identity and her larger goals in reducing discrimination.
All of her endeavors, whether on the
sports track, in the business room, on the magazine cover, or
in small communities, take shape around a profound dedication
to extend opportunities to young people and to eliminate the obstacles
based on prejudice which she has known. Her very image, as a successful,
athletic, beautiful person, has undermined destructive stereotypes
of women and blacks, and her positive attitude and many projects
bring material progress to these groups of people. Kersee may
be the greatest female athlete to ever live, but she is more importantly
a most compassionate and inspiring person, with a strong pride
in who she is and a clear vision of what she wants to do for others.
(1) Jackie Joyner-Kersee Boys and Girls Club. 10 Nov 2000. <http://www.jjkbgc.org/vision.htm>
(2) Resnick, Rick. "For Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Excitement is Building." Time Dec. 1997: 16.
(3) Marvel, Mark. "For the Love of New Horizons: Jackie." Interview June 1997: 82-85.
(4) Ibid.
(5) "Jackie Joyner-Kersee Says Today "Tomboys" are in." Jet Oct. 1998: 51.
(6) Ibid.
(7) Josephson, Judith. "Faces in Sports: Jackie Joyner-Kersee." Children's Digest Sept. 1998: 10-14.
(8) "Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee Becomes NFL Agent." Jet Feb. 1998: 46-47.
(9) Jackie Joyner-Kersee Boys and Girls Club. 10 Nov 2000. <http://www.jjkbgc.org/vision.htm>
(10) Marvel, Mark. "For the Love of New Horizons: Jackie." Interview June 1997: 82-85.
(11) Resnick, Rick. "For Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Excitement is Building." Time Dec. 1997: 16.
(12) Jenkins, Sally. "So long, Jackie!: Portrait of a Champion." Women's Sports and Fitness Nov./Dec. 1998: 42.
(13) "Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee Becomes NFL Agent." Jet Feb. 1998: 46-47.
Scholastic Women's History Archive: Jackie Joyner-Kersee
A brief biography of Kersee, highlighting her athletic records and life achievement awards. <http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/womhst/jackie.htm>
Jackie Joyner-Kersee Boys and Girls Club Foundation
Homepage of Jackie Joyner-Kersee's community center founded in her hometown of East St. Louis. <http://www.jjkbgc.org/vision.htm>
People of the Century: Jackie Joyner-Kersee
In-depth biography of Kersee's athletic career. Includes a list of related links. <http://www.sacbee.com/news/projects/people_of_century/sports/kersee.html>
"Book Review: A Kind of Grace: The Autobiography of the World's Greatest Female Athlete." Publisher's Weekly Sept. 1997: 88.
"East St. Louis" Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
<http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=32337&sctn=1>
[Accessed 10 November 2000].
"East St. Louis Race Riot of 1917" Encyclopedia Britannica
Online. <http://www.eb.com:180/bol/topic?eu=32338&sctn=1>
[Accessed 10 November 2000].
"Jackie Joyner-Kersee." 1997 Information Please (TM) Sports Almanac 1997 ed.
"Jackie Joyner-Kersee." Scholastic Women's History
Website. 1996. 10 Nov 2000.
<http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/womhst/jackie.htm>
Jackie Joyner-Kersee Boys and Girls Club. 10 Nov 2000. <http://www.jjkbgc.org/vision.htm>
"Jackie Joyner-Kersee Says Today "Tomboys" are in." Jet Oct. 1998: 51.
Jenkins, Sally. "So long, Jackie!: Portrait of a Champion." Women's Sports and Fitness Nov./Dec. 1998: 42.
Josephson, Judith. "Faces in Sports: Jackie Joyner-Kersee." Children's Digest Sept. 1998: 10-14.
Marvel, Mark. "For the Love of New Horizons: Jackie." Interview June 1997: 82-85.
"Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee Becomes NFL Agent." Jet Feb. 1998: 46-47.
"Profile: Jackie Joyner-Kersee." Sports People of
the Century. 10 Nov 2000.
<http://www.sacbee.com/news/projects/people_of_century/sports/kersee.html>
Resnick, Rick. "For Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Excitement is Building." Time Dec. 1997: 16.
"This Week in Black History: Jackie Joyner-Kersee: March 3, 1962." Jet. Mar, 1998: 19.