On August 22, 1950, Althea Gibson became the first African American on the U.S. tennis tour when the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) agreed she could participate in their annual championship. Gibson did not start playing tennis until she was 14, but she was a gifted athlete; the very next year she won her first tournament. In 1949, she was barred from the USLTA, but tennis champ Alice Marble fought for her. To read more about Gibson, click here.
