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Billie Jean King

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Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer
Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer shows the dedication and drive that women had to have in order to be successful at sports in the twentieth contrary. Billie Jean King who came from a very athletic family first got her inspiration to succeed at sports from the athletic sermons she herd in church every Sunday as a young child. One of her friends was starting to play tenses and she wanted to start also. After working around the neighborhood to earn the money for her first racket, Billie Jean King overcame many obstacles along with great personal struggles to become the best professional tennis player of her time.
One of the biggest things that she pushed for in her career was equal pay for men and women in sports. This was a struggle for her as she had trouble paying for her tennis. In the early days of her playing she was not allowed in the picture of her first tennis club because she was not wearing the proper tennis skirt, but instead had on shorts. Her family did not have a lot of extra money to put into her expensive tennis career and it was hard for them to afford the elitists sport. She along with other women had to stand up and risk being band from the tennis league when they signed one dollar contracts with the Virginia Slims to bring attention to the struggle for equal play. It became apparent to Billy even from the young age that she was when she was not allowed in the picture because of her attire that women where not

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