Althea Gibson Major Accomplishments

In sports, you simply aren't considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. Winning it once can be a fluke; winning it twice proves you are the best.” Althea Gibson said when she won her second Wimbledon in 1958. Have you ever heard of Althea Gibson, a professional tennis and golf player? Althea Gibson was born on August 29, 1927 in Clarendon County, SC. Althea Gibson helped pave the way for change for African-Americans in sports by breaking barriers. Althea Gibson broke race, gender, and class barriers; she played two sports which were golf and tennis, and had major accomplishments in both. One of her accomplishments was being the first African American to win a Grand Slam Tennis Event on July 6, 1957 at the All

Her family had to move to Harlem, New York at the age of three in 1930 because The Great Depression hit and they were part of the Great Migration. In Harlem, NY when Gibson moved there the Harlem Renaissance was going on at the moment. The Harlem Renaissance was at the time known as the New Negro Movement. This included the new African American cultural expressions across the urban areas in the Northeast and Midwest United States affected by a renewed militancy in the general struggle for civil rights. Combined with the Great Migration of African American workers fleeing the racist conditions of the Jim Crow Deep South, as Harlem was the final destination of the largest number of those who migrated north. Growing up Gibson struggled in school a lot she often skipped school and loved playing sports specifically paddle tennis which she grew proficient at. At the young age of 12 she became New York City Women's paddle tennis champion. With these skills came a man named Buddy Walker who invited her to play tennis on the local tennis courts. Just a year after picking up a racket for the first time, she won a local tournament sponsored by the American Tennis Association