Born: 25 August 1927, United States
Died: 28 September 2003
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Althea Neale Gibson was an American tennis player, professional golfer, and among the first Black athletes to enter international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title, claiming victory at the French Championships. The next year, she secured wins at Wimbledon and the US Nationals (predecessor of the US Open), repeating the feat in 1958. The Associated Press recognized her by naming her Female Athlete of the Year both times. In total, she achieved 11 Grand Slam titles: five in singles, five in doubles, and one in mixed doubles. During the early 1960s, she marked another milestone by becoming the first Black player in the Women’s Professional Golf Tour.
In a time when racism and prejudice were pervasive in sports and society, Gibson drew comparisons to Jackie Robinson. Billie Jean King noted, “Her journey to success was demanding, yet she never backed down.” Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins remarked, “She was an inspiration to all, proving her capabilities during a period when playing tennis as a Black individual was exceedingly challenging.” Venus Williams expressed, “I’m honored to have followed her remarkable path. Her achievements paved the way for players like Serena, myself, and future generations, ensuring her legacy endures.” Bob Ryland, a contemporaneous tennis player and former coach of Venus and Serena Williams, asserted, “She stands among the greatest players in history. Even Martina Navratilova wouldn’t rival her. I believe she could outplay the Williams sisters.” Gibson’s excellence led to her induction into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame.
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
On July 6, 1957, Althea Gibson won the women’s singles title at Wimbledon. She was the first African American to win a tennis championship at the historic All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club.
Born on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina, Gibson grew up in New York’s Harlem, a haven for black artists, musicians, and intellectuals in the 1920s. She took her first tennis lesson at the age of thirteen after receiving a tennis racket as a gift. A year later, she won her first tournament in a match sponsored by the American Tennis Association, a mainly African-American league.
Gibson won the national black women’s championship twice before attempting to gain entry into the U.S. National Tennis Championships in 1950. When it appeared that Gibson would not be admitted, Alice Marble, a four-time winner of the event, spoke out on her behalf in a letter to the American Lawn Tennis magazine. The United States Lawn Tennis Association then invited Gibson to the tournament, where she was the first African American to compete for the U.S. Nationals.
Gibson went on to win two U.S. National championships and to become the first African American to win the U.S. Nationals and the French Open. Between 1956 and 1958, she brought home several major titles, including the French Open singles and doubles, the Italian Open singles, Wimbledon singles and doubles, and the U.S. Open singles. In 1957, and again in 1958, Gibson was selected as athlete of the year by the Associated Press, the first black female so honored. In 1958, she wrote a book about her life called I Always Wanted to Be Somebody. In 1971, she was voted into the National Lawn Tennis Association Hall of Fame.
Gibson served as New Jersey’s commissioner of athletics from 1975 until 1985. In 1980 she was among the first six athletes elected to the Women’s Sports Hall of Fame. In 1991, she was the first woman to receive the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s top honor.
Gibson struggled against segregation throughout her career. Often she was denied entry into hotels and restaurants while on tour. Her perseverance in spite of these obstacles paved the way for many athletes who followed her, such as the tennis great Arthur Ashe.
Gibson’s same strength of character and purpose was shared by other ground breaking African-American athletes, including Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics during the height of Hitler’s propagation of Arian supremacy; and Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947.
On September 28, 2003, Gibson died after a long illness from respiratory failure at East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey. She was seventy-six years old. According to The Sports Network, several hundred mourners showed up to pay their respects to Gibson.