1948 Olympics: Day 15: Alice Coachman makes history

Perhaps one of the least repeated facts about the 1948 Games - but certainly one of the greatest - is that they saw American athlete Alice Coachman become the first black woman to win a gold medal at an Olympics. Coachman won the gold for high jump at the Games, setting a new Olympic record - and only narrowly beating Britain's Dorothy Tyler into silver . The Manchester Guardian reported on plans to hold a parade in her home town of Albany, Georgia - but did not follow up with reports of the segregation that greeted her homecoming , where she was congratulated by the mayor but he did not shake her hand.