This Day in History: , Althea Gibson Becomes First
African-American on US Tennis Tour.
August 22, 1950.
Gibson was accepted
by the U.S. Lawn Tennis
Association into the annual
Forrest Hills championship.
Six days later, Gibson would defeat
Barbara Knapp in straight sets to clinch
her first USLTA match.
It took Gibson a few years
to find her footing on the tour.
Her first major victory came
in 1956 at the French Open.
The next year, Gibson would
command at both Wimbledon
and the U.S. Open, winning the
tournaments at the age of 30.
In the 1960s, Gibson also became
the first African American to
compete on the women's golf tour.
Elected to the International
Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971,
Gibson died from illness in
2003 at the age of 76
