For Girls Who Are “Too Much”: The True Story of Althea Gibson

by Megan Reid

‘As a child, I was often told I was “too much”: too opinionated, too headstrong, too tall, too skinny, too black, too energetic to fit in. Maybe that’s why I’ve always been fascinated by the stories of girls and women who were also told that their interests and goals made them “too much” for the society they lived in. My idols were Janet Reno, Michelle Kwan, and Dominique Dawes (not to mention Anne of Green Gables and Meg Murry)—but I wish I’d known Althea Gibson’s story…..’