Black History Month: Part One
During Black History Month, we honour the greats of previous generations that paved the way for so many of us to be where we are today. In sports, it is no different. There are so many men and women who sacrificed a lot and made history in the process.
By doing this, they opened the door for an entire generation of great athletes. So, for the next two weeks, we will be looking at some of those athletes, starting off by looking at some of the great black women that paved the way.
If I am honest, this is the hardest article I may ever write. The reason is that I am forced to minimises a lifetime of black women being great into a four-minute blog post. It seems almost disrespectful; in the same way it feels disrespectful to limit Black History to just one month.
The real issue that I had in writing this was where to start. I wanted to write about the person who I think is the greatest athlete I have ever seen, in Serena Williams, except she is not history. Her story is still being written, especially now at the Australian Open. I could also talk about her sister, Venus, but her story is also still being written. I then realised the main message I would like to share is how the Williams sisters’ success would not be possible without Althea Gibson. Gibson is the first black person to win a Grand Slam title and the first black tennis player to get…
