As we look at our past, we are better able to see the positive advances that we have made. One of the greatestobsticles that we have overcome is the barrier of race. Over the last several decades African Americans have had ahuge impact on many areas of society such as politics,educatoin and most definately athletics.On August 27, 1927, Althea Gibson was born. She didnot enter the world to a life of glamor. From thebeginning, her life was a tough one. Her family resided inHarlem during the 1930s and 40;s. Times were verydifficult for the young girl. Her family was on welfare andshe, herself was a client of the society for the Preventionof Cruelty to Children. Because of home life traumas,Althea frequently skipped school. The times that she didgo, she struggled though the day. While she was growing up,she also ran away from home numerous times. As any youngchild would do, Althea searched for an outlet from theeveryday hardships of school and home life. This is whereshe discovered tennis. It all began at local recreation programs where shetook up table tennis, or ping pong. Althea had talent rightfrom the beginning. She realized that she, a girl whoslife had been nothing but rough roads and abrupt turns,could be good at something. As she continued to gaininterest as well as perfect her table tennis skills, Altheabegan to compete, and win several local tournaments. Because of these victories,Althea began to get noticed. Oneman, a musician by the name of Buddy Walker, saw Althea playone day and had a revolation. He figured that if Althea wasso good at table tennis, then she would excel in regulartennis as well. At the time, no one realized just howbeneficial this idea would be for the young Harlem girl,Althea Gibson.Through donations raised to pay for her membership andlessons, Althea became a member of an African American clubcalled the Harlem Cosmopolitian Tennis Club. It was herethat she aquired the skills needed to ...
