ipl-logo

Billie Jean King: The Struggle For Women's Rights

1315 Words6 Pages

On November 22, 1943 many people say that a miracle of women’s was born. This miracle was born in Long Beach, California. The ever so called pure tennis talent was given the name Billie Jean Moffitt, later known as Billie Jean King. Billie Jean King had many different difficulties and obstacles she had to overcome while all of this creating lots of controversy. While fighting against the viewpoints of society and creating lots of controversy, Billie Jean King overcame this and is now considered one of the best women tennis players of all time, as well as one of the first prominent U.S. athletes to announce that she was a lesbian, and a huge defender of women’s equal rights.
While being considered one of the best women’s tennis players of all …show more content…

Many things fueled her fight for equal rights, but mainly her fight was fueled from a tennis tournament that Billie Jean King was in when she was around twelve. Billie Jean King saw that everything was white, from the players to the clothes, and she wondered where all the colored people were (Naify). Billie Jean King fought for women’s rights throughout the 1970s seeing as everything being sexist and unfair for women (Naify). She especially fought for women’s getting equal wages saying that it was not fair compared to the wages that all of the men received (California University Press 1).
Before the Battle of the Sexes between BIllie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, Billie Jean King felt very compelled to not only play but defeat Bobby Riggs in order to prove to the world that tennis was not just a white male dominated sport. With Billie Jean King doing this, it fueled her fight for women’s equal rights even more (Naify). And for Billie Jean King’s fight for women’s equal rights she received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama on August 12, 2009 …show more content…

“Bill” Moffitt and his wife Betty Moffitt (Johnson). Tennis wasn’t the first sport that Billie Jean King played in her life. Billie Jean played softball when she was just a kid (Johnson). She played tennis when ever the people at her father’s fire department wanted her to play with them on their softball league team (Johnson). Billie Jean King finally realized that softball was not for her (Johnson). So, then her parents suggest to Billie Jean King that she should take up the sport of tennis (Johnson). Then she was enrolled in the city’s tennis program at the age of eleven (Johnson). Billie Jean King then earned money with jobs she had to buy herself her own tennis racket (Johnson). Then she would spend hours upon hours hitting the tennis balls with her new racket trying her very best to improve her performance (Johnson). Whenever she was entered into the Southern California tennis tournament, she defeated a University of Southern California junior in the finals to win the whole tournament (Johnson). Billie Jean King was so inexperienced at that time that she didn’t even know that a tennis match consisted of winning two sets to win the match

Show More
Related

Marlene Stewart Streit: Canadian Golf

1021 Words | 5 Pages

After her historic win at the 1953 British Ladies Amateur Championships, she was welcomed back by 15 000 people in a parade in Toronto. In the 1950s, there were only very few female golf stars, some even not well known. Marlene Stewart burst onto the golfing scene, and broke down many stereotypes that were in the golf community. People believed that female golfers did not take the sport seriously and could not compete competitively. Marlene Stewart won 19 Canadian championship titles, including provincial and national, just during her first decade of playing golf.

Read More

Warriors Don T Cry Melba Pattillo Beal Analysis

426 Words | 2 Pages

In paragraph 2 it states, “I was proud to be in the hurricane eye of a significant breakthrough and to be used to prove that a sport can’t be called national if blacks are barred from it.” also in paragraph 3 it states, “It hadn 't been that easy to fight the resentment expressed by players on other teams, by the team owners, or by bigoted fans screaming "n-----." The hate mail piled up.” this explains that many people did not want african americans to play in the major leagues. In conclusion americans did not want jackie to play so he proved that african americans can

Read More

Jackie Robinson Research Papers

662 Words | 3 Pages

At John Muir High School Jackie play 5 sport including Football,Baseball,Basketball,Track and was also a member of the tennis team. He played Catcher and Shortstop in Baseball he played Quarterback in

Read More

Billie Jean King Research Paper

160 Words | 1 Pages

Billie Jean King is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the National Women 's Hall of Fame. Billie Jean King was named after her father. She also played softball as a younger child along with tennis.

Read More

Huck Finn Dialectical Journal

915 Words | 4 Pages

It was a chilly brisk afternoon with Huck as I had been drunk most of last night and I didn’t feel right this morning. I told Huck to head to the river to get some fish to bring to town to sell and bring in some extra cash for us to spend. “Don’t stand there palavering all day but out with you and see if there's a fish on the lines for breakfast”(Chapter 6 Pap’s Downfall Page 37) Huck had told me the day before he weren’t rich but I shot back him at him soon after. “I hain’t heard nothing about you bein rich.

Read More

How Did Cheryl Miller And The Championship Game That Change Women's Basketball

1841 Words | 8 Pages

Many said that she “played the game with a quickness and athleticism that you just didn’t see in women’s basketball at the time. ”4 In addition, she actually embraced the recognition which was also unusual for the time. Ultimately these characteristics of her as a basketball player were what challenged the traditional idea of respectability and instigated

Read More

How Did Helen Wills Influence The Great Gatsby

1090 Words | 5 Pages

She was an icon, an “It girl”, both on and off the court. This led to her being adorned with respect, not just medals. She paved the way for women to embrace their athletic abilities and to also remain smart in academics as well. Wills pursued her passion for tennis all the way up to the age of 82 when she finally decided to retire. Upon her death at 92, Wills bestowed her $10 million fortune to her alma mater, the University of California- Berkeley, where she is now remembered by the Helen Wills Neuroscience

Read More

Shirley Chisholm: The Black Woman's Role In Society

551 Words | 3 Pages

Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress. She became the first black woman to seek a major party nomination for the U.S. presidency. Chisholm helped place the African American culture in mainstream politics. In 1924, Chisholm spoke at the University of Missouri and emphasized a black woman's role in civil rights and the American culture. Chisholm describes the black women's role in American society as displaced and misunderstood.

Read More

Lena Horne: Actress And Activist

891 Words | 4 Pages

In 1963 she took part in the March on Washington and was there to witness Martin Luther King Junior’s “I Have a Dream” speech. She contributed to African American civil rights through these and many other supporting actions that her talents and career allowed her to

Read More

Coretta Scott King's Contribution To Society

517 Words | 3 Pages

Her contributions, she helped passed the civil rights act. She also wrote books and she took part in the bus boycott after king’s assassination. So threw the period of time she began to change after high-school and her college

Read More

Jackie Robinson's Role In The Civil Rights Movement

713 Words | 3 Pages

Not just in sports, but in the Civil Rights Movement as a whole. During Jackie’s prime, “people began to view him as a spokesman for other African-Americans. He was an outspoken activist for African-Americans’ rights. He participated in many protests for fair wages and workers’ rights.” (Santella)

Read More

Essay On Jackie Robinson

395 Words | 2 Pages

His father left him and his mother when Jackie was only six months. He and his mother moved to a working-class neighborhood in Pasadena. He didn 't just play baseball in his young life. He found himself playing marbles, soccer, dodgeball, tennis, golf, football, and basketball. When he was in college, he became the first

Read More

Serena Williams Research Paper

505 Words | 3 Pages

Although media reporters are harsh to Serena she still owns it as a tennis player; there has been accounts of Serena being called out of her name and being verbally abused and as a “strong black woman” she remained humble and kept her eyes on the prize. Williams have multiple grand slam titles, singles, and double titles also that no man or woman can take from her. It might come as a surprise to some that Black children are taught that they have to be twice as good in order to achieve their ambitions in a White world. Claudia describes that in her article when she says, "Only after they give 150 percent will white Americans recognize black excellence for what it is. " But for Serena she just wants to win, and that was her main focus.

Read More

Persuasive Essay On Billie Jean King

1456 Words | 6 Pages

She spoke those words in 1982 when women were continuing to challenge traditional gender roles. Billie Jean King, an American female tennis player, has never been one to back away from controversy. She is a powerful voice for the advancement of women’s rights, equal pay, and the acceptance of sexual orientation. King is probably best known for accepting a challenge from Bobby Riggs, a former number one male tennis player in the world, to a “Battle of the Sexes.” She beat Bobby in straight sets.

Read More

Florence Nightingale Leadership Style

1728 Words | 7 Pages

She believed in the fact that all people were equal and thus believed should be treated as such and she used her leadership and advocacy skills to create change in

Read More

More about Billie Jean King: The Struggle For Women's Rights

Related Topics

Open Document