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Althea Gibson Accomplishments

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Althea Gibson was born in 1927 in South Carolina to two sharecroppers on a cotton farm.Her family later during the Great depression moved to Harlem. With the support of her neighbors for money, she received lessons at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club and in 1941, she won the ATA national championship in the girls division (Trong).Althea gibson was a great influence and role model for African Americans by being the first African American to win as many championships as she did , showing what African Americans could accomplish in tennis, and opening doors for African Americans .
Althea Gibson influenced African Americans by being the being the first African American to win as many championships as she did.One example of this is how,“Althea Gibson was the first African American to win the major tennis championships of England, …show more content…

For example,“Her accomplishments were revolutionary because of the impact on black America. She proved that blacks, when given an opportunity, could compete at any level in American society(Truong).” This quote not only shows that Althea proved what African American women could do but it opened doors for AA because without her incredible success and ability and opportunities to play at such high levels AA may not have the chance to compete at high levels like they can now. Second, since the beginning of Althea's career she had started to break barriers because “Back in the 1930s and '40s, when Ms. Gibson first started playing tennis, black players weren't allowed to compete against white players. But she was so good that she soon dominated the all-black tournament circuit. To keep improving her game, she needed to break the "color barrier" and compete with white players(Worful).”This quote shows that overall in Althea’s career she opened doors by breaking the color barrier. Althea Breaking the color barrier gave AA a chance to have more opportunities in tennis and

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