The life of Althea Gibson, a dominant tennis gamer in the 50s, was filled with successes that influenced the involvement of African Americans in tennis, as well as leading the way for female tennis gamers by being the very first black, male or female, to win a Grand Slam title. Althea was born on August 25, 1927 in Silver, South Carolina, however was raised in Harlem where she had a less than luxurious life. For leisure, Althea began playing table tennis at a young age.
Buddy Walker, a musician, observed Althea’s interest in the video game and presented her to tennis at the Harlem River Tennis Courts. An active member in the tennis neighborhood called Dr. Walter Johnson also observed Althea and invested his money and time into assisting with her training. Dr. Johnson put Althea into better competitions, in addition to setting up contacts with the USTA to introduce her to the recognized tennis scene. In 1942, Althea got in and won her first competition that was sponsored by the all-black African Tennis Association.
4 years later on she moved to North Carolina to get tennis training, and in 1947 she won the first of 10 successive ATA women’s singles champions. Up until 1950, Althea and other African American tennis gamers were only permitted to play in the ATA and could not complete versus any white gamers. Nevertheless, Althea was lastly given the opportunity in 1950 to play in the Forest Hills National Yard Court Champion in New York City, the first African American player of either sex to be enabled to get in.
One year later on she became the first African American to be invited to Wimbledon, the All-England Championships. These two tournaments would be the structure for Althea’s continuous growth in the sport of tennis. She played in many more big tournaments and in 1956 she struck huge at the French Open by taking home the gold. It just improved for Althea because in 1957 she won both songs and doubles at Wimbledon, along with the United States National Tennis Championships at Forest Hill.
In 1958 she did it all over again by taking home the title for the second time in both Wimbledon and Forest Hill. These titles were among the most admirable in Althea’s career. Her successes as an African American tennis player were especially exceptional because she was a woman. Woman had to face their own struggles to make their way into sports, however, Althea managed to push ahead of all men as well as whites in tennis.
I find it truly incredible that she overcame two types of segregation, especially uring a time where prejudice and racism were prevalent in society. Althea Gibson was one of the most significant African American athletes of her time because of her strength and composure through a time of racial prejudice. Althea helped pave the way for some of the greatest athletes in tennis such as Venus and Serena Williams and Arthur Ashe. She remains a hero to African Americans, woman, and to people in the tennis community.
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