I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE SOMEBODY
London: W.H. Allen, 1959. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Althea Gibson on the title page. Octavo: 175 p. with 10 photographs. Original green cloth binding, with gilt titles. A bit of soiling along the edges, with a faint stain to the top of the front board and mild bumping to the tips. The dust jacket is a bit edgeworn, with some minor lifting of the laminate; otherwise very good.
The life story of Althea Gibson (1927-2003), a truant from the rough streets of Harlem, who emerged as the unlikely queen of the highly segregated tennis world in the 1950s. She was the first African American to play and win at Wimbledon and the U.S. Nationals (precursor of the U.S. Open) - a decade before Arthur Ashe. Following her triumph at Wimbledon in the summer of 1957, Gibson was feted with the first ticker-tape parade up Broadway to honor a woman of color.
The New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden argued in a 1977 story that Gibson’s accomplishments were "revolutionary" for the black community: "Even to those Blacks who hadn’t the slightest idea of where or what Wimbledon was, her victory, like Jackie Robinson’s in baseball and Jack Johnson’s in boxing, proved again that Blacks, when given an opportunity, could compete at any level in American society." Recently, Gibson was the subject of a feature story in The New York Times ("Before Serena, There was Althea" by Sally H. Jacobs) published to coincide with the renaming of the block of 143rd Street in Harlem where she first held a racket, which is now known as Althea Gibson Way. Very good / Very good. Item #75542
Price: $1,000.00