On 06 July 1957, Althea Gibson became the first African American to win at Wimbledon.

It’s well known that woman have “historically been the lesser talked about, watched and invested in gender in sports.” Add Black to being female, and I understand why I was today years old when I learned about Althea Gibson.

You also need to know this extraordinary athlete.

In 1950, Althea Gibson broke the color barrier in American tennis when she played in the US National Championships (now known as the US Open). In 1951, she became the first African American to play at Wimbledon.

She continued to break barriers and win tournaments. In 1956, she was the first African American to win the French Championships (now known as the French Open); she also won the doubles.

In 1957, at age 29, she won twice at Wimbledon: on 06 July, the women’s singles; the following day, doubles with Angela Buxton, who was Jewish.

“Shaking hands with the Queen of England,” she wrote in “I Always Wanted to Be Somebody,” her 1958 autobiography, “was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus.”

It would be almost another 20 years before Arthur Ashe would become the first African American man to win at Wimbledon (1975).

The Wimbledon win put her on the cover of TIME the day after her 30th birthday. In September, she won the US Open.

The Associated Press named Gibson, a Black woman, Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958.

In 1957 and 1958, Gibson was the number one tennis player in the world, according to History.com.

In 1960, she toured with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, playing exhibition tennis matches before their games. In 1964, Gibson joined the Ladies Professional Golf Association Tour, the first Black woman to do so. The trailblazing athlete played pro golf until 1971, the same year in which she was voted into the National Lawn Tennis Association Hall of Fame.