compete in tennismatches at a higher, more competative level. At the timethat Althea was emerging as a recognized tennis player,African Americans opportunities were somewhat limitied. One organization called the American Tennis Associationprovided tounament opportunities for African American tennisplayers. In 1942, Althea Gibson had her first landmarkvictory when she won first place in womens singlesevent atthe American Tennis Assosiations New York State tournament. Her succes continued to move in a positive direction overthe next few years. Althea went on to win these statetounaments in 1944 and 1945. After her victories in New York, she was offered theopportunity of her lifetime. A well-off man from SouthCarolina had been following Althea and was extremelyimpressed by what he had seen. He extended her aninvitation to live in his home, attend high school, and ofcourse, study tennis. Althea attended Florida A&MUniversity in 1950. During this time, Althea competed frequently in tennistournaments. For ten years consecutively, she won the ATA(American Tennis Association) womens singles title(1947-1956). Also while at Florida A&M, she enteredtounaments other than the ATA. Among these was the NationalGrass Court Championship where she was the first AfricanAmerican player, male or fermale, to be allowed to enterthis competition. In 1951, she became the first AfricamAmerican to be invited to participate in the Wimbleton, anall-England tournament. This was a giant step not only forAlthea herself, but for All African American athletes. In1956, Althea won the French Open, another highly prestigioustennis tounament. This year was extremely big for Altheabecause she was allowed to participate in a world wide tourwhere she was a member of the national tennis team. As timewent on, Althea began to emerge as one of the greatesttennis players in the wolrd. She won the womens singles aswell as the doubles matches at the Wimbelton. New Y...
