Althea Gibson's Unfinished Legacy for Black Tennis Players
She broke barriers by rising to the top in 1957, but since then the sport has become exclusionary in new ways.
by Henry D. Fetter
Aug 29, 2013
2 minutes
Legendary tennis commentator Bud Collins once wrote that no tennis player had ever overcome more obstacles to become a champion than Althea Gibson. This year, rightly, the U.S. Postal Service is marking the U.S. Open tournament with a first-class “Forever” stamp honoring the African-American tennis great from the 1950s.
Gibson, born in South Carolina in 1927 and raised in Harlem, won the women’s singles titles at Wimbledon and Forest
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