In 1950, Althea Gibson becomes the first black player to compete in the U.S. Open. Gibson wins her first round match, defeating Barbara Knapp of Britain 6-2, 6-2 at Forest Hills in New York.

Althea Gibson’s legend deserves to be one of our biggest. Two new biographies capture the athletic greatness and the funny, exuberant personality of the undersung pioneering tennis champion.

History | August 8, 2023. Sports Legend Althea Gibson Served Up Tennis History When She Broke Through in 1950. Her athletic performance in New York impressed onlookers of all colors and cracked ...

Gibson was 23 years old when she entered the public tennis scene in the summer of 1950 at the U.S. Nationals Championships at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, Queens, making her the ...

Books & the Arts / A recent biography of the complicated tennis legend underlines the sport’s persistent challenges with race, class, and celebrity. Alisa Solomon Tennis fans streaming into ...

ALTHEA: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson. By Sally H. Jacobs. St. Martin’s Press. 464 pages. $32. When Althea Gibson, born in South Carolina, was growing up in Harlem in the 1940s, her ...

Angela Buxton, Half of an Outcast Duo in Tennis History, Dies at 85. She was Jewish, and the great Althea Gibson was Black, and in the segregated world of 1950s tennis they forged a remarkable ...

A recent biography of the complicated tennis legend underlines the sport’s persistent challenges with race, class, and celebrity. Ad Policy American tennis star Althea Gibson hits a return shot ...