Ruth White (fencer)
Ruth White (born July 16, 1951) is an American doctor and retired fencer. Life and career. White was born on July 16, 1951 in Baltimore, Maryland where she faced racial discrimination at school for being African-American. In 1969, White became the first African-American to win a US fencing championship. She also competed at the 1971 Pan American Games where she won a gold medal in the team foil event and silver medal in the individual foil event. She was the first African-American women to represent the US in fencing at the Olympics. She competed  in the women's individual and team foil events at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Soon after she competed at the Olympics, White left fencing to go into medicine at the New York University School of Medicine and went on to work in internal medicine. White was inducted into NYU's Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame in 2001.