Today In Black History
Ora Washington, mid-20th century Award-winning Tennis and Basketball Player
Issue #594 Today In Black History, Tuesday, May 7, 2024
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Today’s Black History WOW!
Ora Belle Washington was born in Caroline County, Virginia around 1899 to James Thomas Washington and Laura Young Washington. The exact date of her birth is unknown because after the Civil War, the state of Virginia was in debt and to save money did not issue birth certificates from 1896 to 1912. Laura Washington died during childbirth in 1908, the Washingtons moved north in the mid-1910s during the Great Migration looking for better economic opportunities.
Shortly after her older sister, Georgia, died of tuberculosis, Washington began playing tennis on the courts at the YWCA there in the early 1920s. In 1924, she won the Wilmington, Delaware, city championships in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles. The following year, she defeated the reigning national African American singles champion Isadore Channels.
She won her first national title in 1925 with Lula Ballard at the national doubles tournament of the all-Black American Tennis Association, which she won for the next eleven years.
After moving to Chicago in 1929, Washington won her first singles championship when she defeated Frances Gittens in three sets. She would win the title seven more times by 1937. She wanted to play in the United States Lawn Tennis Association tournaments, but that organization maintained its policy of racial segregation until 1948, after Washington retired from tennis.
Ora Washington began her career as a basketball player first in 1930 with the Germantown Hornets, and their 22–1 record earned her the national female title. The following year, Washington led the Hornets to thirty-three consecutive victories. Their opponents included African American women's teams, white women's teams, and, occasionally, African American men's teams.
Washington quickly gained a reputation as one of the best female basketball players of her time. Known for her speed, agility, and scoring ability, she led the Germantown Hornets to numerous championships and became a dominant force in women's basketball. Washington's success on the court earned her the nickname "the Queen of Tennis and Basketball."
During her athletic career and for the remainder of her life, she supported herself as a housekeeper. Washington never married. After a long illness, Washington died in 1971. She was buried in her Virginia hometown.
In the mid-1980s, Ora Washington was inducted into Temple University's Sports Hall of Fame.
In 2009, Washington was elected to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.
On March 31, 2018, she was inducted as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2018.
Today In Black History
In 1700, William Penn began monthly meetings for Black people advocating for emancipation.
In 1878, Black inventor J.R. Winters received a patent for the fire escape ladder.
In 1943, the Liberty Ship “George Washington Carver was launched.
In 1945, Branch. Rickey announced the formation of the Negro Baseball League.
In 1946, Woodrow “Woody” Strode became the 2nd Black played in the NFL when he signed with the Los Angeles Rams.
In 1946, William Henry Hastie was inaugurated as the first Black Governor of the Virgin Islands.
In 1993, South Africa agreed to multi-racial elections.
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