The Althea Gibson Photograph Collection depicts some aspects of her public life as a professional tennis player and sports figure, dating from 1950 to the 1960s.The collection consists of individual and group portraits of Gibson, including her mother, friends and colleagues; views of Gibson in tennis competition; and a single view of sign at an exhibit in Burma. The collection has no views of Gibson's early life, personal photographs, her acting or singing career, or her professional or athletic activities after her retirement from professional tennis competition in 1959.The collection includes an undated candid shot of Gibson; views of Gibson playing on an indoor tennis court, possibly at the National Indoor Championships (1950); after losing to Louise Brough in a second round match at the United States Lawn Tennis Association National Championship Tournament in Forest Hills, New York (1950); during her match with Bev Baker at Wimbledon, England (1951); views of Gibson in various matches (ca. 1950s); kissing her trophy after winning the women's singles title at the French Open (1956); singing at the Wimbledon Ball (1957); posing with a group of colleagues and friends, including her first tennis coach, Fred Johnson, and Dr. Hubert Eaton and musician Buddy Walker, who both helped to advance her career (n.d.); with her mother, Anne Gibson, and a small child, Anthony Hunter, outside her home in Harlem (1957); and in some group portraits with various friends and admirers, including boxers Sugar Ray Robinson and Muhammad Ali, and singer Nat King Cole (n.d.). Also depicted is a view of the United States Information Service exhibit at a pagoda festival in Mandalay, Burma, with a sign in Burmese that translates as "Sports enjoyed by people all over the world" (1957).
Content: Most photographs have either photographer's, photography studio's, or news agency's hand stamp on verso; one image bears photography studio blindstamp; one image has photographer's name printed on recto. Most photographs bear handwritten information on verso; two items bear either printed or typewritten information attached to verso.
Content: Collection contains work by Gordon Parks and Layne's Studio, among others.
Biographical/historical: Althea Gibson, professional tennis player, was born in Silver, South Carolina, in 1927. Raised in Harlem, she overcame an unstable childhood to become the first Black tennis player to win the sport's major titles. In 1950, she became the first Black to play major lawn tennis at the United States Lawn Tennis Association tournament at Forest Hills, New York, and, in 1951, the first Black to compete at the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament. Gibson went on to become the first Black to win a series of titles including the women's singles title in the 1956 French Open; both the women's singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon in 1957; and the United States national championship after winning the women's singles title at Forest Hills in 1957. In 1968 she was the first Black tennis player inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
