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Althea Gibson (August 25, 1927 – September 28,
2003) was an United States|American sportswoman
who became the first African-American woman to be
a competitor on the world tennis tour on August
22, 1950.  She is sometimes referred to as "the
Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the
"Racial segregation|color barrier".

== Biography ==

Born in Silver, South Carolina, Gibson was raised
in Harlem, New York, where she excelled in tennis,
but also competed in golf and basketball. With the
assistance of a sponsor, in 1946 she moved to
Wilmington, North Carolina for tennis training and
in 1947, at age 20, she won the first of ten
straight black national championships run by the
American Tennis Association, the then governing
body for black tournaments. Forced to play in what
was basically a Racial segregation|segregated
sport, at age twenty-three Gibson was finally
given the opportunity to participate in the 1950
US Open (tennis)|US Open at Forest Hills, New
York. 

She continued to improve her tennis game while
pursuing an education. In 1953, she graduated from
Florida A&M University on a tennis and basketball
scholarship, and moved to Jefferson City, Missouri
to work as an athletic instructor at Lincoln
University. With the color barrier broken, she was
able to compete against the best and her game
improved to where she won the 1955 Italian Open
(tennis)|Italian Open. The following year, she won
her first of the 4 Grand Slam in tennis|Grand Slam
events in Paris, capturing the French Open singles
and doubles titles. She followed this up by
becoming the first black person to win a Wimbledon
Championships|Wimbledon Championship, capturing
the doubles title with Englishwoman, Angela
Buxton. At the US Open that year she made it to
the singles finals but lost to Shirley Fry.

In 1957, she lost the finals of the Australian
Open, again to Shirley Fry, but the two teamed up
to capture the Doubles title. At Wimbledon, Gibson
won her first of two straight singles
championships and back home in the United States,
was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City
and an official welcome at City Hall. She
responded by winning the US Open. For her
performance that year, Gibson earned the No. 1
ranking in the world and was named the Associated
Press Female Athlete of the Year award.

In 1958, after defending her Wimbledon singles
title and winning her third consecutive Wimbledon
doubles championship, she repeated as the US Open
singles champion. Once again, she earned the
Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award.
That year Althea Gibson retired from what was then
still called amateur tennis. In the pre-open era
there was no prize money other than an expense
allowance and no endorsement deals. As such,
tennis players had to give up their amateur status
in order to earn some money. However, at the time
there was no pro tour for women, so Gibson  was
limited to playing in a series of exhibition
tours. 

In retirement, she wrote her autobiography and in
1959 recorded an album, Althea Gibson Sings, as
well as appearing in the motion picture, The Horse
Soldiers. In 1964, she also became the first
African-American woman to play in the LPGA|Ladies
Professional Golf Association (LPGA). However, she
was too old to be successful and only played for a
few years.

In 1971, Althea Gibson was inducted into the
International Tennis Hall of Fame and in 1975 she
was appointed the New Jersey state commissioner of
athletics. After ten years on the job, she went on
to work in other public service positions
including serving on the governor's council on
physical fitness. In later years, she suffered two
cerebral aneurysms and a stroke.

In 2003, at the age of 76, Althea Gibson passed
away in East Orange, New Jersey due to 
respiratory failure and was interred there in the
Rosedale Cemetery.

==Grand Slam Titles==
===Singles===
*French Open : (1956) 
*Wimbledon : (1957, 1958)
*US Open : (1957, 1958)
===Doubles===
*Australian (1957)
*French Open : (1956) 
*Wimbledon : (1956, 1957, 1958) 
===Mixed Doubles===
*US Open : (1957)


==See also==
*Althea Gibson Foundation


==External links==
* http://www.altheagibson.com/ Althea Gibson
*
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/tennis/09/28
/gibson.obit.ap/index.html Sports Illustrated
obituary
* http://www.usta.com/home/default.sps United
States Tennis Association
*
http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/gibsonalthea.
shtml Hickoksports.com (a short biography)