Queen Pin

The Story of Yvonne Barnes & The Motown Records Bowlerettes

De: R. Ray Barnes

Narrado por: William Pomeroy

Queen Pin is the true story of Yvonne Barnes, a Greater Detroit Bowling Hall of Fame inductee. She challenged the status quo in the field of bowling in the racially charged period of the 1960s and 1970s in America. The Motown Record’s Bowlerettes, the first all-Black professional female bowling team was sponsored by Berry Gordy, Jr. and Motown Records. They defeated the best all-White teams in the nation’s highest scoring bowling league the first two years they were allowed to compete after being denied entry for seven years because of their race. In addition, the Motown Record’s Bowlerettes won 12 National Bowling Association team titles. Yvonne also created the largest youth bowling league in the nation and fought the prevailing racial inequities. She was known as the "Rosa Parks of bowling."

©2022 R. Ray Barnes (P)2022 R. Ray Barnes

Who knew! I learned a lot

This book was well-researched. It quotes news articles from the past, so the facts are reliable. The author goes between telling history and sharing the life of his mother with spark and honesty. I feel like I got a taste of the family including those who were captured by the heroin addiction and those who weren’t in it, but loved their family members in spite of it.
The narrator was obviously a white person telling a mostly black person story. He articulated very well each syllable, and lent the perfect amount of tone to the hard and the tough and the tender parts.
Well done. I learned a lot, and really appreciated this well written story of this amazing family, especially the Queen Pin!