#Althea Gibson

[newyorkthegoldenage]

When Althea Gibson won Wimbledon in 1957, she was the first black woman to do so. Her proud parents, Daniel and Annie Gibson, beamed at their home in New York as they held AP Radio photos showing their daughter in action, July 6, 1957. Mrs. Gibson said "We're so proud of her we don't know what to say."

Photo: Harry Harris for the AP

[citizenscreen]

Tennis legend and breaker of barriers Althea Gibson was #botd in 1927.

[thewomanwhoreads]

Neighbourhood children greet Ms. Gibson upon her return to Harlem after winning Wimbledon in 1957

[destinyc1020]

I love the fashion tribute to Althea Gibson 🥰

[readyforevolution]

[purplecatruins]

Zendaya in Monaco at a photocall in custom On. The look is a tribute to tennis star Althea Gibson. Such a classic and timeless look!

Althea Gibson was a Black tennis star in the US - she won the Grand Slam title 11 times, she was also the first Black tennis pro to win at the US Open, French Open and at Wimbledon! She ended her professional tennis career in 1958. From 1964 on, she took part at pro Golf tournaments!

Such a good tribute, considering that when Gibson played she wasn't allowed to use the same locker rooms to change as the other players in the golf clubs because of segregation and structural racism! By AP she was selected as Female Athlete of the Year (1957 and 1958) and graced the cover of Time.

[womeninfictionandirl]

Althea Gibson by Allison Adams

Althea Gibson (1927 – 2003) was an American tennis player and professional golfer. She became the first black athlete to break through the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first person of color to win a Gram Slam title. The following year, she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals, and won both again the following year. In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments, including six doubles titles, In the early 1960s she also became the first black player to compete on the women’s professional golf tour.

At a time when racism and prejudice were widespread in sports and in society, it was enormously difficult to play in professional sports if you were black, let alone a woman, but she made history by competing not only in tennis but in the golf circuit as well. “I am honored to have followed in such great footsteps,” wrote Venus Williams, “Her accomplishments set the stage for my success, and through players like myself and Serena and many others to come, her legacy will live on.”

[blackjewels5]

On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson claims the women’s singles tennis title at Wimbledon and becomes the first Black person to win a championship at London’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Arthur Ashe was the first Black man to do so in 1975.

[alleannaharris]

Today's Black History Month illustration is of Althea Gibson. She became the first Black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis and golf. (She has a TON of records, so here it goes!)

Gibson was born in 1927 on a cotton farm in South Carolina, but her family moved to Harlem in 1930. While growing up in NYC, she played paddle tennis under the supervision of the New York Police Athletic League. She became so good at paddle tennis that by the age of twelve, she won the NYC women’s paddle tennis championship.

In 1940, a group of Gibson’s neighbors put money together to pay for her junior membership at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club in Harlem. A year later, she won her first tournament, the American Tennis Association’s NY State Championship, founded by Black tennis players. She won the ATA national championship in 1944 & 1945. In 1947, she won the ATA’s women’s singles championship, which she continued to win for 10 consecutive years.

Her success drew the attention of Dr. Walter Johnson, a Black physician from Virginia who was also an avid tennis player. He mentored her and helped her enter into competitions with the US Tennis Association (USTA). In 1949, she became the first Black woman and second Black athlete to play in the USTA’s National Indoor Championship. After that, she received a full athletic scholarship at Florida A&M.

In 1950, Gibson became the first Black to compete in the US Open at Forest Hills in Queens, NY. In 1956, she became the first African American to win the French Open. In 1957, she won Wimbledon, and received the trophy personally from Queen Elizabeth. She won the doubles championship as well and when she returned to NYC, she became the second athlete (after Jesse Owens) to receive a ticker tape parade.

In late 1958, after winning 56 national and international singles and doubles titles including 11 Grand Slam championships, she retired from amateur tennis at the age of 31. In 1964, at the age of 37, she became the first Black woman to join the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. Her best tournament finish was a tie for second place at the 1970 Buick Open.

Overall, Althea Gibson is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players in history and paved the way for players like Venus and Serena Williams.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another illustration and story!

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Neighborhood children greet Althea Gibson on her return to her native Harlem after winning Wimbledon in 1957.

Photo: Carl T. Gosset, Jr. for the NY Times

[citizenscreen]

Today in 1957, Althea Gibson became the first African American to win Wimbledon. 🎾

[topoet]

Stafford’s Zipper

By Squirrel Nut Zippers I have stand-alone cd Hot (1996). They were a retro swing band with a big band sound and tongue-in-cheek lyrics.I picked it up 2nd hand at a now-gone lp/book store that used to be around the corner from me. Great fun & sexy. In an mp3 collection I have Jo Stafford’s The Ultimate. Stafford is a classic jazz vocalist with clear emotive voice & every song os a strandard,…

[maximumtalewonderland]

Althea Gibson is first African American to win Wimbledon

On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson claims the women’s singles tennis title at Wimbledon and becomes the first African American to win a championship at London’s All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina, and raised in the Harlem section of New York City. She began playing tennis as a teenager and went on to win the national Black women’s championship twice. At a time when tennis was largely segregated, four-time U.S. Nationals winner Alice Marble advocated on Gibson’s behalf and the 5’11” player was invited to make her United States National Championships (now known as the U.S. Open) debut in 1950. In 1956, Gibson’s tennis career took off and she won the singles title at the French Championships (now known as the French Open)—the first African American to do so—as well as the doubles’ title there.

In July 1957, Gibson won Wimbledon, defeating Darlene Hard, 6-3, 6-2. (In 1975, Arthur Ashe became the first African American man to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon, when he defeated Jimmy Connors.) In September 1957, she won the U.S. Open, and the Associated Press named her Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958. During the 1950s, Gibson won 56 singles and doubles titles, including 11 major titles.

After winning Wimbledon and the U.S. Open again in 1958, Gibson retired from amateur tennis. In 1960, she toured with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, playing exhibition tennis matches before their games. In 1964, Gibson joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, the first Black woman to do so. The trailblazing athlete played pro golf until 1971, the same year in which she was voted into the National Lawn Tennis Association Hall of Fame.

After serving as New Jersey’s commissioner of athletics from 1975 to 1985, Althea Gibson died at age 76 from respiratory failure on September 28, 2003, at a hospital in East Orange, New Jersey.

[birdbathcabal]

[afrotumble]

[thatwritererinoriordan]

“Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.”