Module 3: H.R. 4130

To award posthumously a Congressional Gold Medal to Althea Gibson, in recognition of her groundbreaking achievements in athletics and her commitment to ending racial discrimination and prejudice within the world of athletics.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Althea Gibson Excellence Act’’.

She went on to dominate the all Black American Tennis Association tournaments throughout the early 1940s, when racism and segregation prevented her from participating in tournaments sponsored by the United States Lawn Tennis Association (USLTA).

Despite her extraordinary athletic prowess, Althea was repeatedly denied entry into the world’s top tennis tournaments based on the color of her skin.

Despite her extraordinary athletic prowess, Althea was repeatedly denied entry into the world’s top tennis tournaments based on the color of her skin.

Alice Marble, a four-time U.S. Open champion, wrote a historic editorial published in the July 1950 American Lawn Tennis magazine, condemning the sport of tennis for excluding players of Althea Gibson’s caliber.

During her career, she won 56 doubles and singles titles before gaining national and international acclaim for her athletic feats in professional tennis leagues.

Althea Gibson was inducted into the prestigious International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1971 and to the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.

In 1991, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) honored Althea Gibson with the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest honor the organization may confer on an individual.

Althea Gibson was a trailblazer whose experiences and successes paved the way for other great African-American tennis players like Arthur Ashe.

Joining the ranks of other distinguished Congressional Gold Medal recipients would be a fitting accolade to the achievements of Althea Gibson.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make appropriate arrangements for the posthumous presentation, on behalf of the Congress, of a gold medal of appropriate design in commemoration of Althea Gibson, in recognition of her groundbreaking achievements in athletics and her commitment to ending racial discrimination and prejudice within the world of athletics.