Overview

• On August 28, 1950, Althea Gibson became the first Black player in the U.S. Championships and opened with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Britain’s Barbara Knapp.
• Sidney Wood’s posthumously published memoir recounts a quietly proposed motion to bar Gibson from the event using a claimed requirement for USLTA sectional membership.
• Wood names fellow players Frank Shields, Don McNeill, Cliff Sutter and Gil Hall as objectors, and he recalls Gibson coming within two points of upsetting No. 2 seed Louise Brough in round two.
• Contemporary coverage by The New York TimeslisoAllison Danzig praised Gibson’s attacking volleys and noted the large crowd following her debut.
• The article situates the 1950 breakthrough within Gibson’s legacy, noting later singles titles at Forest Hills, Wimbledon and Roland Garros, and references her autobiography republished in 2022.