Serena Williams Research Paper

Black excellence; a term that is possibly defined as the recognition and celebration of the successes of the black community. Lacking from the definition is the idea that black excellence cannot be achieved without understanding its relation to apparent racist perpetrations. In the essay entitled “The Meaning of Serena Williams”, author Claudia Rankine states, “the notable difference between black excellence and white excellence is white excellence is achieved without having to battle racism. Imagine.” The prevalent absurdity exuded by this statement is the unfortunate reality we now inhabit.

Black excellence; a term possibly defined as the recognition and celebration of the successes of the black community. Lacking from the definition is the idea that black excellence cannot be achieved without understanding its relation to apparent racist perpetrations. In an essay discussing Serena Williams, entitled “The Meaning of Serena Williams”, by Claudia Rankine, she states, “the notable difference between black excellence and white excellence is white excellence is achieved without having to battle racism. Imagine.” The prevalent absurdity exuded by this statement is the unfortunate reality we now inhabit.

Serena Williams is a professional athlete who has conquered the different labels that media and society have given her throughout her professional career. Mini Cooper

Mia Hamm, who is know as probably the best woman soccer play ever. And the best basketball player of all time, Chamique Holdsclaw. Women can achieve a lot of things if they put their minds to it and if there is a bit more encouragement towards women sports.

Althea has seen prejudice and discrimination in the entirety of her lifetime despite the many titles and awards she was given. Her life began with the Great Migration and lasted till the Civil Rights Movement. Even though people were prejudice and discriminated against her, she overcame those obstacles. Althea will be remembered as one of the best in tennis for her outstanding performance.

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.

History has referred to her as "the Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the color barrier. On August 22, 1950, Althea Gibson, an American sportswoman, became the first African-American woman to be a competitor on the world tennis tour. She was the first to win a 'grand slam' title in 1957. She was a pioneer in both amateur tennis and professional golf forging a road for future greats to include Tiger Woods and Venus Williams. She was also the first black woman on the LPGA tour.

American professional tennis player Serena Williams has won over Grand Slam Single titles and several Olympic gold medals. “At age American Serena and her sister Venus started playing tennis. “(A&E) Since turning pro she’s countless awards and

The Williams sister’s have had to suffer under the oppression of the lily white sport of tennis. Throughout Serena’s very successful career there have been multiple cases where one of the judges, either a line judge or a head umpire, have cost her a championship based on the calls that they have made. In 2004, Mariana Alves, cost Serena a trip to the championship game after making five bad calls in a row in favor of Serena’s opponent. As

soccer player who is an insperation to many people all around the world. She has won various awards

Once they both accomplished their dreams, things didn’t stop there. They both had gotten many awards as an effect of that. Althea Gibson had won lots of tennis games and championships, and got recognized a lot for that, while Barbara Jordan had gotten a lot of degrees. In the article “Althea Gibson” it states, “For Gibson, two more ATA titles followed in 1944 and 1945. After losing one title in 1946, Gibson won 10 straight championships from 1947‐1956.”

Serena Williams is the number one women’s tennis player in the world. Her outstanding skills have earned her 50 million dollars through just prizes; that is more than any other athlete in the world (“Serena Williams Fast Facts”). Her fast reflexes, amazing skills, and outgoing personality have made her known as a powerful woman and an inspiration to many young girls. This African-American woman is almost six feet tall and is made of steel. With her long, muscular legs and her quick arms, no wonder she is number one!

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.

When women decide to participate in sports traditionally for men such as bodybuilding, they risk the chance of being socially stereotyped as lesbians, or simply viewed as "less feminine" then say women figure skaters. For example, Venus Williams is seen as criticized for being very masculine in build and judged on that by her performance. The media has commented on how well she plays, and has compared her to men in her sport. She receives fewer endorsements than many other tennis players do because of her looks (but mainly due to her race).

Serena and Venus both began their career on the professional tour in the late 1990s. Early on both of the sisters began to show off their skills and surprised many people who did not know much about them. When they started they began to beat high ranked players on the pro tour. Serena won her first championship in 1999 at the Australian Open and Venus won her first championship in 2000 at Wimbledon. Serena’s Grand slam title victory in 1999 made her the second African-American woman to win a grand slam title, with Althea Gibson being the