Ashley Brown
Position title: Assistant Professor & Allan H. Selig Chair in the History of Sport and Society
Email: abrown62@wisc.edu
Phone: 608.263.1641
Address:
Office: 5105 Mosse Humanities
Mailbox: 5011 Mosse Humanities
Office Hours: Virtually Tuesdays and Thursdays 5:40-6:40pm
Biography
I am a twentieth-century United States historian whose research and teaching focus on African American history, women’s history, and the history of sport. I believe that sport is intrinsic to American culture and history, carrying the potential to initiate critical discussions about race, gender, mass culture and media, and labor. I am particularly passionate about investigating the journeys of minority and female athletes in country club sports. In February 2023, Oxford University Press will publish my first book, Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson, a comprehensive biography of the first African American to win titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals between 1956 and 1958.
Education
Ph.D., George Washington University
B.A., Mount Holyoke College
Books
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Ashley Brown. Serving Herself: The Life and Times of Althea Gibson. Oxford University Press, 2023.
Selected Publications
- “’Uncomplimentary Things’: Tennis Player Althea Gibson, Sexism, Homophobia, and Anti-Queerness in the Black Media,” Journal of African American History, 106.2 (Spring 2021): 249-277.
- “Swinging for the State Department: American Women Tennis Players in Diplomatic Goodwill Tours, 1941-1959,” Journal of Sport History, 42.3 (Fall 2015): 289-309.
Selected Awards
- Nellie McKay Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2020-2021.
- Fall Research Competition Award, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2020.
- Visiting Fellowship for Post-Doctoral Scholars, James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference, Emory University, 2017-2018.
- Research Associateship, Five College Women’s Studies Research Center, 2016-2017.
- National Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, 2016.
- 30th Annual Graduate Student Essay Prize, North American Society for Sport History, 2015.
- Presidential Merit Fellowship, George Washington University, 2010-2015.
History Courses
- History 136 – Sport, Recreation, and Society
- History 201 – The Historians Craft: Heroes and Amazons in Sports
- History 221 – Explorations in American History: African Americans and Sports
- History 500 – Reading Seminar: African American Migrations
- History 500 – Reading Seminar: Biography in U.S. Sports History
- History 600 – Advanced Seminar in History: History, Sport, and Film
- History 901 – African American Women, Freedom, and Identity