Althea Gibson Breaks Through at Wimbledon

In July 1957, Althea Gibson stood on Centre Court at Wimbledon to receive the women's singles trophy from Queen Elizabeth II. She had arrived as the top seed and secured the title with a straight-sets victory against Darlene Hard, becoming the first Black athlete to win a singles championship in the tournament's eighty-year history. Gibson soon added the doubles crown alongside Darlene Hard.

Gibson's climb to the highest tier of international tennis began far from the elite private clubs that dominated the sport. Born in South Carolina to sharecroppers who moved to Harlem during the Great Migration, she initially excelled at street paddle tennis before community members funded lessons at the Cosmopolitan Tennis Club. In the segregated circuit of the American Tennis Association, she dominated the women's singles division, eventually capturing ten consecutive titles. Her play caught the attention of physician-activists Hubert A. Eaton and Robert W. Johnson, who provided schooling, board, and advanced training.