History of Black Women in Sports

Venus Williams, Cheryl Miller, Florence Griffith Joyner, Flo Hyman and many other black women athletes owe a debut of gratitude to the pioneers who paved the way for these black women to excel in sports.

  1. The Pioneers

    • In 1929, all black college Tuskegee Institute (now University) in Tuskegee, Alabama began one of the first women's track teams.

      That same year Ora Washington won her first American Tennis Association singles title. She held this title from 1929 to 1936.

      Louise Stokes and Tidye (some references list her first name as Tydia) Pickett qualified for the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics in track and field, but they were not allowed to compete. Pickett and Strokes later went on to become the first black women to represent the United States in the Olympics, vying in Berlin, Germany, in 1936.

      Alice Coachman won the first of her 10-straight national AAU high jump titles in 1939.

    Black Female Strikes Olympic Gold

    • Alice Coachman became the first black woman to win an Olympic gold medal. Coachman won the high jump in the 1948 Olympics in London, England.
      Coachman was a member of the Tuskegee Institute track program, and she received a degree in dress-making in 1946.

      Coachman became the first black women to be a member of the 1946 All-American Track and Field Team.

    First Black Athlete (male or female) to win a Grand Slam Tennis Title

    • In 1950, Althea Gibson became the first black (male or female) to play in a U.S. Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA) event. The next year, 1951, she became the first black (male or female) to compete at Wimbledon

      Gibson became the first black (male or female) to win a grand slam tennis title when she won the 1956 French Open. Gibson went on to win back-to-back Wimbledon titles in 1957 and 1958, and she won back-to-back USLTA titles the same years as well.

      Gibson also went on to become the first black woman to win her Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) card in 1964.

      Gibson became the first black woman to be inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971.

    First U.S. Female to Win Three Gold Medals in a Single Olympics

    • Wilma Rudolph became the first U.S. woman to three gold medals in a single Olympics. She did this in the 1960 Olympic games in Rome, Italy. She won the 100 and 200 and was a member of the 400-meter relay team. The next year Rudolph became the first black woman to win the James E. Sullivan Award. This is the highest award in amateur athletics.

    American Female to Compete with Five Olympic Track Teams

    • Willye White became the first American woman to compete in five Olympics (1956,1960,1964,1968 and 1972).
      White is a two-time Olympic silver medalist. She won the silver medal in the long jump in the 1956 Olympic games in Melbourne, Australia, and in the 1964 Olympic games in Tokyo, Japan, she was a member of the 4x100 meter relay team that won the silver medal.

    First Woman to Play for the Harlem Globetrotters

    • Lynette Woodard, in 1985, became the U.S. black woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. She spent two seasons with the Globetrotters (1985-87) before moving on to play professional basketball in Italy (1987-89) and Japan (1990-93).
      Woodard was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic gold-medal women's basketball team.

    Women's Heptathlon World Record

    • Jackie Joyner Kersee was the first woman to break 7,000 points in the women's Olympic heptathlon. She set the world record 7,291 points in the Heptathlon in 1986.
      Kersee went on to win two gold medals in the long jump and women's heptathlon in the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul. Korea. In the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, Kersee repeated her performance and won the gold in the women's heptathlon, and she won the bronze medal in the long jump.
      Kersee won her final Olympic medal when she won the bronze in the long jump in the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia.