•HRES 707 IH 
with the United States Championship trophy at Forest 
Hills; 
Whereas when Althea Gibson defended her titles at 
Wimbledon and the United States Championship in the 
following year of 1958, she embodied her belief that win-
ning more than once is proof of one’s ability; 
Whereas Althea Gibson would have been eighty years old this 
year on August 25, if she had not died at the age of 76 
on September, 28, 2003; 
Whereas Althea Gibson, the eldest daughter of sharecroppers 
who moved from South Carolina to Harlem during the 
Depression, wrote that she always wanted to be some-
body, and she won nearly 100 awards for tennis; 
Whereas despite poverty and her previous troubles in aca-
demics, Althea Gibson received a full athletic scholarship 
to attend Florida A&M University for basketball, becom-
ing one of the few African-American females to receive 
this honor at any college in the United States at that 
time; 
Whereas Althea Gibson did not let prejudice, poverty, or con-
sistent threats against her life compromise her drive to 
become a champion of tennis and an example of human 
excellence; 
Whereas Althea Gibson transcended barriers of class, race, 
and gender when she entered the world of national com-
petitive tennis, a sphere historically closed to individuals 
of her race and socioeconomic status; 
Whereas Althea Gibson’s style and ability defied conventional 
concepts of the female tennis athlete when she played and 
won against men and women on nearly every continent; 
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•HRES 707 IH 
Whereas in an era in which there were few international ce-
lebrities of color, Althea Gibson was an ambassador of 
sports and exhibited her talents in many countries, in-
cluding Australia, China, Mexico, Germany, England, 
Italy, Haiti, and Egypt; 
Whereas although Althea Gibson was recognized as the 
Queen of Tennis, racial prejudice excluded her from lodg-
ing in the hotels that were in close proximity to the are-
nas where she competed; 
Whereas in 1950, Althea Gibson’s talent and determination 
engendered discussions about how the integration of ten-
nis was an inevitable occurrence that would benefit tennis 
as it had benefitted basketball, football, baseball, and 
boxing; 
Whereas on August 28 of that same year, Althea Gibson be-
came the first African-American to compete at the Na-
tional Open in Forest Hills; 
Whereas Althea Gibson was not only the first African-Amer-
ican to win the championship trophy at Wimbledon, but 
6 years before that victory, she was the first African- 
American to compete at Wimbledon; 
Whereas Althea Gibson combated racial prejudice when she 
competed and won on tennis courts that were previously 
segregated; 
Whereas Althea Gibson’s athletic prowess was not limited to 
tennis; 
Whereas during the same year as the enactment of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964, a law that outlawed discrimination 
based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, Al-
thea Gibson became the first African-American to become 
a Ladies Professional Golf Association card carrier; 
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•HRES 707 IH 
Whereas although Althea Gibson was a champion of tennis, 
she was also an actress, musician, and teacher, the quin-
tessential Renaissance woman; 
Whereas Althea Gibson risked her salary when she refused to 
adopt a dialect in her portrayal of a Civil War maid in 
the 1959 film the Horses’ Soldiers because she felt that 
it compromised her dignity and the dignity of the Afri-
can-American community; 
Whereas in 1971, Althea Gibson became the first African- 
American to be inducted into the International Tennis 
Hall of Fame, the only African-American woman of the 
200 athletes who have received this honor from its cre-
ation in 1955 until the present year of 2007; 
Whereas Althea Gibson was 1 of the first 6 people to be in-
ducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of 
Fame on September 16, 1980, an honor shared by such 
pioneers as Amelia Earhart; 
Whereas, in January 1991, Althea became the first woman 
to receive the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest 
honor awarded by the National Collegiate Athletic Asso-
ciation for ‘‘symbolizing the best qualities of competitive 
excellence and good sportsmanship, and for her signifi-
cant contribution to expanding opportunities for women 
and minorities through sports’’; 
Whereas Althea Gibson is a universal inspiration who re-
ceived numerous accolades and endured numerous humil-
iations, and despite the fact that she has been largely for-
gotten, she undoubtedly made great strides for those per-
sons of color who sought to coach or play in professional 
sports; and 
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•HRES 707 IH 
Whereas the Althea Gibson Foundation was established to 
support underprivileged youth in their drive to succeed in 
golf, tennis, and the classroom, and to ensure that Althea 
Gibson’s legacy of excellence, tenacity, and dedication 
lives on: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) honors the 50-year anniversary of Althea 
Gibson becoming the first African-American to win 
at Wimbledon and the United States Championship 
at Forest Hills; 
(2) encourages the support of the Althea Gib-
son Foundation and other organizations that sup-
port under-privileged youth in their educational aspi-
rations and athletic pursuits in the areas of tennis 
and golf; and 
(3) encourages the preservation of the memory, 
legacy, and well-being of athletes that were pioneers 
in their time and who served as inspirations for suc-
ceeding generations. 
Æ 
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