Fast Girls

Sports pioneers of the twentieth century; Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens and Louise Stokes were among the few female athletes headed to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Nazi Germany. After years of fighting to be part of their local track and field teams, these fast and feisty runners overcame adversity at every turn. Repeatedly told their sex was too fragile to compete, reprimanded for this unladylike behavior, in addition to racial discrimination;  Betty, Helen and Louise, along with many others spent years proving their abilities and strength on and off the course. With a tiny taste of success in 1928 and 1932, the women were training hard to make the U.S. proud and refute Adolf Hitler’s attempt to prove his theories of Aryan racial superiority. As the politically charged Berlin Games became a powerful propaganda tool for Nazi Germany the athletes who had considered boycotting the events, continued to strive for greatness. Narrated by their personal histories and newspaper clippings, Fast Girls shares these often untold historical stories of champions who paved the future for female athletes everywhere.