Mary DeSaussure Sobers

Interview Description

Oral History Interview with Mary DeSaussure Sobers

Mary DeSaussure Sobers, a track runner from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, became the first African American female to run in a sanctioned track meet when she participated in the Olympic Carnival, sponsored by the New York City Department of Parks, in 1945. Sobers won gold medal for the forty-yard dash. She and her twin sister Martha were born in Utahville, South Carolina in 1931. They attended Girls' High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant and helped form the Trailblazers, the first girls track team under the auspices of the Police Athletic League (PAL) in Brooklyn. Both DeSaussure sisters went to the Olympic tryouts in 1948. Sobers went on to become a coach and adviser to the Queens Trailblazers Track Club. She worked as a secretary at a shoe-polish plant as well as a manufacturer of vacuum-cleaners, but her long term workplace was Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. She retired in 1997. She married Lowell Sobers in 1958. The couple resided in the Springfield Gardens neighborhood of Queens when the interview took place in 2009.

In her lengthy interview, Mary DeSaussure Sobers recalls her life by way of many of her memories, press clippings, photographs and the people she's known. She tells about recently receiving an honorary award, and then shares biographical details about herself, twin sister Martha, and their parents. She connects the politics of the 2008 presidential elections to disrespectful children of the era. Sobers begins to tell the tale of her first track meet experience late in the interview's first hour, and comes back to that and an all-borough meet in hours two and three, with many offshoot topics along the way. The initial track meet experience was a personal success, but was blunted by racism in the awarding of medals. She also discusses sexism in sports as well as in her personal upbringing. She looks back at the historic arc of civil rights. Sobers shares details on people dear to her, like her sister Martha, and friend Inge Auerbacher. Sobers also speaks of her genealogy research on her family. Throughout, she is mindful of instilling children with a positive outlook and goals, using her experience as lessons for them. Interview conducted by Sady Sullivan.

The Voices of Brooklyn oral histories: Sports and leisure series features a dynamic range of narrators. Some are known public figures and others are well-known in their field, all having proactively contributed to the athletic pursuits or relaxing diversions of the borough. This ongoing series focuses on Brooklyn history and the experiences of these narrators, as well as documents local, national and international cultural events. The oldest narrator in this series was born in 1931.

Citation

Sobers, Mary DeSaussure, Oral history interview conducted by Sady Sullivan, January 21, 2009, Voices of Brooklyn oral histories: Sports and leisure, 2008.031.6.006; Brooklyn Historical Society.