althea gibson us open 75th anniversary.

FILE - Sarah Palfrey Cook, left, chats with Althea Gibson, National Negro Women's Tennis Champion from Sumter, S.C., at the west side tennis club at Forest Hills, New York on July 29,1950. (AP Photo,File)

US Open honors Althea Gibson for breaking the color barrier in tennis 75 years ago

Althea Gibson is front and center at the U.S. Open this year on the 75th anniversary of her breaking the color barrier in tennis. The logo for the Grand Slam tournament is of her profile as designed by the first Black woman responsible for the U.S. Open’s feature art. Clips of Gibson playing at what was then known as the U.S. Nationals flash across screens inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, and a tribute narrated by Venus Williams is part of the soundtrack during breaks. Gibson’s story is also a complicated one, given her fight to get in and a life afterward that ended more than two decades ago without the money or legacy to show for it.

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