... 1927 (80 years ago today), Althea Gibson (left) was born in Silver, South Carolina. She grew up in Harlem, where she began to play tennis, and in the early 1950s "had a scintillating amateur career in spite of segregated offerings" for African-American athletes. Later in the decade she won 11 major international titles, including the French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon. Associated Press named her Female Athlete of the Year in 1957, 
making her the 1st African-American winner. Gibson died in 2003.... 1989, Mayumi Moriyama (right) became the 1st woman to hold the influential post of Chief Cabinet Secretary in Japan. She had been Japan's delegate to a U.N. conference on women in 1985 and served on the legislature's foreign affairs committee. Moriyama remains in government, and has served as Minister of Justice since 2001.
