By Ashley Brown
Oxford University Press, 2023
A review of the book and a short history of Black women's championship tennis
By Steve Halpern
The wonderful victory of nineteen-year-old Coco Gauff at the United States Open Tennis Tournament has caused many people to review the impressive accomplishments of Black women in championship tennis. Lists that I've seen include the names Venus and Serena Williams, Sloan Stevens, Naomi Osaka, and Coco Gauff.
Looking at this list, I noticed that the name Althea Gibson was missing. Gibson was the first Black woman to win major championships in tennis during the 1950s. This sparked my curiosity. Eventually I found Ashley Brown's book Serving Herself—The Life and Times of Althea Gibson. For many reasons I'm glad I made that discovery. So, in order to see why I think this book is important, first we need to look at the life of Althea Gibson.
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson was born in Silver, South Carolina. Her father Daniel initially was a share cropper, but was unable to make a living at this. So, when Althea was three-years-old the family moved to the Harlem section of New York City.
Daniel Gibson was, in a way, fortunate that he got a job as an auto mechanic during the years of the depression. For a time, Althea's family lived on public assistance. However, while many other families experienced hunger in the city, Althea reported that her family usually had food. In those years, the seven people in her family shared five rooms.
In her early years Gibson considered herself "the wildest tomboy you ever saw." She didn't like school and stayed away as often as she could. Her father attempted to discipline her with beatings. Daniel Gibson understood that his daughter could not get away with many of the things white children get away with and the only method of discipline he might have known was to use force.
Daniel Gibson also understood that his daughter would need to have the ability to defend herself on the streets of Harlem. So, on the roof of the tenement where they lived, he gave her boxing lessons that became very rough.
Those lessons proved to be useful when a member of a gang called the Sabres tried to rob her uncle Charlie who she called Junie. Althea called out the robber. Then, when the Sabre member threw a sharpened screwdriver at Althea, it was on. She said, "We fought all over the block," with "his fists and his elbows and his knees and even his teeth. Althea said, "The Sabre didn't even think of me as a girl, I can assure you."
Roger Wilkins grew up in Harlem in those years and became the Assistant Attorney General under the Lyndon Johnson Administration. He said the Sabres were the "baddest mf–ers in the [Harlem Valley]." The fight between Althea Gibson and the Sabre was remembered in Harlem for many years, and this battle gave her street credibility.
Running the streets of Harlem, young Althea became obsessed with playing any game where a ball was involved. She didn't just want to play sports, but became obsessed with winning.
Another glimpse of the character of Althea Gibson was with her meeting with Sugar Ray Robinson, who many consider to be the greatest welterweight boxing champion of all time. Gibson met Robinson in a bowling alley where she demonstrated how she didn't fear anybody. This is what she had to say. "So you're Sugar Ray Robinson?" "Well I can beat you in bowling right now."
Althea would become friends with Robinson and his wife the singer, dancer, and model Edna Mae Robinson. She also established relations with Nat King Cole who gave her a camera for her visits abroad. The heavyweight champion Joe Lewis paid for a lavish hotel room for her in Detroit, and paid for one of her trips to Europe. Jackie Robinson who broke the color line in baseball was also a friend.
Turning points
In the year 1905 Black people were experiencing some of the most vicious crimes imaginable. Today in Montgomery, Alabama there is a museum that documents 4,400 lynchings that took place in this country. Many of those lynchings took place around the year 1905.
Then, in that same year a meeting was held in Niagara Falls, New York. W.E.B. DuBois wrote the document that became the anthem of that movement. This is what he had to say.
"Against this the Niagara Movement eternally protests. We will not be satisfied to take one jot or tittle less than our full manhood rights. We claim for ourselves every single right that belongs to a freeborn American, political and social; and until we get these rights we will never cease to protest and assail the ears of America."
Dr. Hubert A. Eaton and Dr. Robert Walter Johnson were Black doctors who lived in states where Jim Crow segregation was the law. Although they were both relatively prosperous, they were not allowed to use the same bathrooms or restaurants as people who were white. They were also competent students of the game of tennis.
One day the doctors watched as Althea Gibson competed in a losing effort. They both saw how Gibson had the real potential to become a champion. So, they made the difficult decision to take in Althea, organize for her education, and prepare her for a career in tennis. Perhaps the sentiment expressed by W.E.B. DuBois might have influenced their decision.
Althea understood that this would be the kind of opportunity that she was living for. Her parents agreed. However, there would be a few problems. She would not be living on the streets of Harlem, but in states where Jim Crow was the law. Violating the norms of that system could cost her life. Under those conditions, she would need to become a competent student. She would need to stop wearing bluejeans and start wearing clothes acceptable to an upper middle-class Black family.
As we might imagine, it wasn't easy for Althea to make all these adjustments. She did her best, but she was also a human being.
One day she borrowed the car that belonged to Dr. Eaton. She wanted to make out with a boy. She didn't have a driver's license.
While Althea didn't get caught, Dr. Eaton found out about what she did. He became enraged. Had Althea been stopped by a police officer, that officer would have, no doubt, been a white racist. That would have reflected on his family. Because of this and another incident, Celeste Eaton, the Doctor's wife wanted Althea out of her home.
With tears in her eyes, Althea begged Celeste Eaton to not send her back to Harlem. Celeste Eaton saw those tears, and perhaps thought about the sentiment expressed by W.E.B. DuBois. She agreed to allow Althea remain in her home, continue her education and her tennis training.
In my opinion. these seemingly impossible events would become turning points, not only for Althea Gibson, not only in the history of women's tennis, but turning points in the history of sports in the world.
Althea's tennis career develops
Because Althea hadn't done well in school, she was older than her classmates in high school and in the Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College she attended. Aside from playing tennis, she was the top basketball player on the women's team at FAMC.
Just as there were the Negro Leagues and the Major leagues for white players in baseball, there was a similar setup in tennis. Black players competed in the American Tennis Association (ATA) and white players competed in the United States Tennis Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA).
Initially Althea Gibson gained sponsorship to play in tournaments in the ATA. Then because of pressure from various people, as well as her ability, Gibson began competing against players in the USLTA.
In the year 1955 racists tortured and murdered Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. In a make-believe trial, Till's murderers were found to be not guilty.
During these years, the United States was becoming the superpower of the world. Before the end of the Second World War, the United States government organized a meeting in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire where representatives of 44 nations attended.
At this meeting, United States representatives informed the nations of the world that this country would be the new super power. The implication was clear. Those nations who resisted the will of the power brokers in this country would face consequences.
After this meeting, the United States government showed the world what those consequences would be. The U. S. Air Force firebombed and destroyed large parts of 67 Japanese cities in a six month campaign. Then, the Air Force destroyed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with atomic bombs.
Then, in 1950, the United States invaded Korea and murdered millions of Korean and Chinese people. However, the Chinese and Korean soldiers forced the United States out of the northern part of that country. So, while the United States was the new superpower, there was significant resistance.
Under those conditions, politicians in this country became adamant promoters of the idea that the United States was the greatest democracy the world has ever known. This in spite of the fact that Black people were denied basic citizenship rights. This was in spite of the fact that Emmett Till's murderers were set free.
Under those conditions the State Department of the United States had a meeting with Althea Gibson. They asked her to go on an international goodwill tour of the world with other prominent tennis players. Clearly the State Department wanted Gibson, a Black woman, to be on that tour to pretend that there was racial tolerance in this country. Yet, at this time Gibson was legally barred from using the same bathrooms as white people.
The State Department didn't ask Gibson to refrain from making statements protesting Jim Crow segregation on her tour. They knew that making those kinds of statements would be tantamount to ending her career in tennis. Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois were both critical of Jim Crow. The government took away their passports and this prohibited them from traveling abroad. Gibson knew all about this.
By going on this tour, Gibson was able to play with some of the best men and women players in the world. In the past Gibson spent much of her time playing in the ATA where the players did not have the skills of the USLTA players. So this tour allowed Gibson to develop the skills that would make her a world champion.
There are four major tournaments in championship tennis. These are the French Open, the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. Althea Gibson won Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open twice. She won the French Open once.
Upon winning Wimbledon the Queen of England shook her hand. Then she returned to a ticker-tape parade in New York City that celebrated her victory. Yet at that time in New York City, there were restaurants that refused to serve anyone who was Black.
The photo below was taken by the New York Times photographer Carl T. Gosset Jr. It is a photo of Althea Gibson surrounded by children in Harlem after she returned from her 1957 Wimbledon victory. Given the expression on her face, I think it is fair to say that Gibson was ecstatic to be surrounded by those children. Perhaps she was feeling that after all her trials and tribulations, she had come home. This is my favorite photo of her.
British imperialism
We might consider that at the same time as the Queen of England was congratulating Althea Gibson for her victory, the British armed forces were carrying out unimaginable acts of horror all over the world. Caroline Elkins documented this history in her Pulitzer Prize winning book Legacy of Violence—A history of the British Empire.
In Kenya, the British armed forces herded thousands of the Kikuyu people into concentration camps where they were tortured and murdered. Some of those survivors sued the British government for being subjected to that unimaginably horrendous treatment.
The British government representative did not deny that those horrors occurred and the court ordered the British government to pay out millions of dollars in compensation.
Why did championship tennis change?
When Althea Gibson competed in tennis, the major tournaments were amateur events. Coco Gauff just won three million dollars in the U.S. Open. Althea Gibson never won any money for her championship wins. Even Jackie Robinson, who broke the color line in baseball, received a salary for playing the game. So, a question to be asked is, Why did such a profound transformation take place with respect to championship tennis?
There are two trends in the capitalist system that trump all laws or even basic common sense. First, the capitalist economy absolutely needs to continually expand. Every year corporations spend about $200 billion in advertising in a continual effort to sell all the commodities they possibly can.
Where does the money for this expansion come from? Corporations are also continually driven to cut their production costs in order to finance expansion. This explains why corporations eliminated millions of manufacturing jobs in this country and moved those jobs to nations where wages might be two dollars per day.
In order to maintain this system, a buffer class emerges between the billionaires and the vast majority of the population. So, while 34 million people in this country own about $1.2 million or more in assets, another 34 million people don't have enough food to eat. This gross disparity of wealth isn't about mistakes in judgement or insensitivity. No, that gross inequality is the very essence of the capitalist system. This also explains why racist and sexist discrimination have always been routine to the capitalist economy.
So, in the days when Althea Gibson wasn't making any money in tennis, the power brokers were developing their plans to greatly expand the coverage and advertising of the game. In 1969 championship tennis became a professional game that eventually became a multi-billion-dollar enterprise.
After tennis, Althea Gibson would attempt to make a living at singing, acting, playing golf, and working in the government. She was the first Black golfer to join the ranks of the LPGA.
However, at the end of her life she ran out of money and resorted to writing bad checks. She was on the verge of suicide when her supporters made charitable donations that sustained her for the rest of her life. We might put this in the context of many championship athletes who ran out of money towards the end of their lives. These horror stories are also normal to the capitalist system.
Ashley Brown ended her book with a quotation by Althea Gibson where she congratulated Venus Williams for her championship wins. This is part of what Althea had to say. "I gladly pass the torch to you and Serena. I know that you two will carry it well because you and your sister have been prepared for this day by your parents."
Serving Herself?
For me, Ashley Brown's biography of Althea Gibson is a necessary read to gain a complete understanding of the history of sports in the world. However, I don't like the title of this book—Serving Herself.
Certainly Ashley Brown presented a considerable amount of evidence that supports the reason for this title. Althea Gibson made many statements arguing that she didn't consider herself as a "crusader" like Jackie Robinson to break the color line in tennis. She argued that she was about advancing her career.
There were also reporters in the Black press who resented this attitude of Gibson. In 1954 there was a 385 day Montgomery Bus Boycott that forced the government to reverse the laws that had restricted Black people to sit in the back of municipal busses. To the best of my knowledge, Gibson didn't give verbal support to that movement. If she had, she might have not had a career in tennis. So, let us look at this issue with a bit of perspective.
In my opinion, Mohammed Ali was the greatest athlete that I know of. He wasn't just a champion heavyweight boxer. He was an articulate speaker and poet. He had a magnetic personality. He sacrificed his career to protest the war against the people of Vietnam.
We can also say that Ali, like virtually all genuine leaders, made some serious mistakes. He became openly critical of his friend and mentor Malcolm X. He made dehumanizing remarks about his opponent Joe Frazier. In the course of his life, Ali made attempts to amend those mistakes. So I don't judge Ali by his mistakes, but by the totality of his life. I also believe that the consciousness of Mohammed Ali was influenced by the civil rights movement, as well as his friendship with Malcolm X.
I say all that to say, that I don't judge Mohammed Ali because of all the things he said, but by what he did in his life. I don't judge Jackie Robinson by all the statements that he made, but by his actions of breaking the color line in baseball.
As Althea Gibson said, she passed "the torch." In the next section of this blog I will give a summary of the enormous torch Althea Gibson passed to women athletes of color all over the world.
Evonne Goolagong Cawley
Evonne Goolagong was the former number one women's tennis player in the world. She won all the major tournaments except for the French Open. She is also an Aborigine from Australia.
Recently I viewed a documentary titled Australia's Dark Secret: The Inhumane Treatment of Indigenous Peoples. This documentary begins with a tour of a vacation resort in Australia overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The weekly cost of an apartment in this resort is $33,000. The commentator looks at the view from this apartment and says "this must be paradise."
From paradise, the commentator drives hundreds of miles to the center of Australia to a place ironically called Utopia. This is where Aborigines live in shacks lacking electricity and running water. There is a spigot outside the shack that gives the family access to running water.
Next to this shack is where a government representative lives. That building has eighteen air-conditioners. The person who lives in the shack says he would like one of those air-conditioners and he pays taxes.
In an interview I listened to with Evonne Goolagong Cawley, she mentioned that when she was living with her family in the Australian countryside, her mother warned her to hide whenever a car drove by. In those days, Aborigine children were being kidnapped by white people who might see them walking near the road.
Goolagong's father was an expert at shoring sheep or taking the wool off of the animal. He was also, like Althea Gibson's father, a car mechanic. Because of his skills Goolagong's family lived in a more affluent area of the Australian countryside.
Someone gave Evonne Goolagong a board with a ball. This fascinated the young Evonne and she spent hours hitting that ball against a round water tank.
Then she became fascinated looking at a game of tennis being played in the area. A player noticed her interest and invited young Evonne to play. This was another turning point in the history of sports.
In 1965 Vic Edwards, a prominent Australian tennis coach saw Goolagong play. Immediately he saw her potential, as Doctors Eaton and Johnson saw the potential in Althea Gibson.
Like Gibson, Goolagong moved away from her family to live in a home with Edwards. Edwards became her guardian and took control of her money. While Edwards aided in giving Goolagong the skills that made her a champion, she also accused him of sexual harassment. Eventually she broke all relations with Edwards.
When she was under Edwards influence, Goolagong made a statement that she wasn't Aborigine. She also competed in a tournament in South Africa in the apartheid era. At that time, Arthur Ash was not allowed to compete in the tournament because he was Black.
Since those years, Goolagong was able to become a millionaire. She now identifies with her Aboriginal heritage and runs a camp for aboriginal children.
The family of Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Richard Williams, and Oracine Price
Richard Williams is the father of Venus and Serena Williams who dominated women's tennis for about seventeen years. Richard Williams was raised in a shack in Shreveport, Louisiana by his mother Julia who barely made a living by picking cotton.
As a child, Richard Williams wasn't thinking about tennis. He was busy running from racist mobs. Three of his close friends were lynched by racist mobs.
Eventually Richard Williams left Shreveport and settled in Los Angeles, California. He managed to make a bit of money running a security service and married Oracine Price.
One day he saw a tennis match on television where, after four days, the winner of the women's tournament won $40,000. Then, Richard Williams wrote a 78 page proposal where he outlined how he was going to have two daughters who would become tennis champions. Here was another turning point in the history of sports.
Unlike both Althea Gibson and Evonne Goolagong, Richard Williams and Oracine Price were able to train their daughters. I believe this is significant. The fathers of Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff were also able to train their daughters.
Li Na
Li Na was a tennis champion player who won the Australian and French Opens. She was born and raised in China. Her father was a badminton competitive player. When thinking about the significance of Li Na's accomplishments, we might look at a bit of Chinese history.
In the late 19th century literally tens of millions of Chinese starved to death. Up until the year 1910 many Chinese women had their feet bound and broken in the foot binding practice that was routine in those years.
Then came the Chinese Revolution of 1949. We might consider that while revolutions create profound change, that change doesn't always have positive effects. The revolution in that created the United States is a good example of this.
After the so-called American Revolution the new government carried out unimaginable genocidal practices with respect to African slaves and Native Americans. Yet the capitalist system developed that industrialized this country. I don't believe that industrialization would have happened if we continued to live under British rule.
In China, the most populous nation in the world, was ruled by Mao Zedong after the revolution. Mao made serious mistakes with his Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. Had Li Na lived in the years when Mao had power, a career in tennis would have been unthinkable.
However, when Deng Xiaoping became the new leader of the country, profound changes took place. Deng adopted to capitalist methods at a time when capitalist power brokers were looking to invest in nations where wages were only a few dollars per day.
While the Chinese government continues to be repressive, the development of that country has been almost unbelievable. These changes allowed for China to become a powerhouse in international sports and Li Na has benefitted from that change.
We might also consider that the nation of India has a population that is about equivalent to the population of China. Yet there are very few Indian athletes who have managed to compete on a championship level. So, while China continues to have an extremely repressive government, the Chinese Revolution created enormous changes.
Naomi Osaka
Naomi Osaka's father, Leonard Francois, was born in Haiti. He managed to get an educational opportunity in Japan and met Naomi's mother Tamika Osaka there. After getting married, Tamika's parents disowned her because she married a Black man. The family then moved to Osaka Japan and later to Florida where they lived with Haitian relatives.
Naomi Osaka won four major championships, and for a time was listed as the best women's tennis player in the world. She was sponsored by a Japanese sporting association. She has become one of the most prominent sports figures in Japan. She also has identified with the Black Lives Matters movement.
Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur was born and raised in Monastir, Tunisia. She is the highest ranking women's tennis player in Africa as well as in the Arabic speaking world. At one time she was rated number two in women's tennis. While she hasn't won a major tournament, she played in the finals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
Final words by Althea Gibson
After reading 391 pages of Ashley Brown's biography of Althea Gibson, I came across a passage where Gibson unleashed with the same kind of fury that she brought to her battle with the Sabres' gang member on the streets of Harlem. This was in a series of talks she gave defending the role of women in sports. For me, Gibson's ideas are just as relevant today as they were decades ago.
Gibson asked her audience to "acknowledge the indigenous obligation which has always belonged to women. This is simply being women—perpetuating the idea of femininity."
"The arguments most often used to justify discrimination against women in sports—that athletics are bad for their health and femininity, that women are not skilled enough or interested in playing games—have on the surface a nice paternalistic, even altruistic quality," That was the myth and Gibson let loose with the reality. "Recent studies show such assumptions are incorrect and self-serving nonsense."
"Anything beyond token sexual equality in athletics represents a formidable threat to male pride and power." Male defensiveness about female athletic prowess is not restricted to head to head confrontations. She acknowledged that "a hundred or so male tennis players could defeat Billie Jean King." However, "hundreds of thousands ...would be fortunate to win a set from King."
"For obvious reasons, it is often the unathletic spectator orientated man who has the most derogatory things to say about outstanding sportswomen."
"The competitive spirit of sports breeds a desire for success and encourages desipline. If women are exposed to sports they will become more confident and develop a sense of identity."
"there never has been a really successful society in which women were suppressed."
"It is women's right to control her body, be it wanting an abortion, or wanting to strengthen it through sports."
"our male-dominated society prefers women [to be] physically and psychologically dependent." "Better athletic programs will develop more aggressive women with confidence and a strong sense of identity."
Well, if you have reached this part of my too long review of Ashley Brown's wonderful biography of Althea Gibson, you're probably thinking that this was way too long. I wrote this very long review to underscore my argument that Althea Gibson, although she denied it, was a crusader. She opened the door and passed the torch for women of color in athletics. This is a better world because of her efforts.
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