Black History: Special Delivery!!
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Althea Gibson played both tennis and golf competitively! Many people know about her accomplishments in the sport of tennis. However, her accomplishments in the sport of golf are lesser-known. She was the first black athlete in international tennis as well as golf. Althea Gibson was born on August 25, 1927, in Silver, South Carolina. Her parents were sharecroppers. The family moved to Harlem, New York in 1930. There, she began playing paddle tennis through the Police Athletic League. She first picked up tennis by bouncing rubber balls off of a brick wall. She was taught to play the sport by a one-armed tennis coach named Fred Johnson. At the age of 12, in 1939 she won the women’s paddle tennis championship in New York. It was not until Serena Williams won the U.S. National Title in 1999 and Venus Williams won Wimbledon in 2000 that black women would experience success at the level achieved by Gibson.
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