Hall of Fame unveils new exhibit "Breaking Barriers"

It's been a tennis year stunted though not halted by a pandemic. Perhaps the International Tennis Hall of Fame's latest digital exhibit could not have appeared at a better time, to learn—to sit with the stories—and to consider the 2020-onward implications of everything associated with them.

This "Breaking the Barriers" exhibit truly will be one for the ages. It already is. After all, people have pivoted in their personal and professional lives, inside and outside of tennis, well before COVID-19 gripped our globe.

"Breaking the Barriers" surveys a quintet of time periods in African American experience, framed as "Creative Survival" (1874-1910), "Entrée" (1910-1938), "Reform" (1938-1955), "Participation" (1955-1965), and "Liberation" (1965-present). It's worth noting here that the sport's Open era didn't begin until 1968.

Compelling stills and videos illuminate the look and feel of each era, Each is in this well-edited exhibit for a reason, propelling the collective story forward. Every static image is moving.

As it turns out, "Breaking the Barriers" has an origin story more than a decade old. A version of this exhibit first appeared at the 2007 US Open, a partnership between ITHOF and ace historians Dale Caldwell and Art Carrington. As noted in the announcement accompanying this exhibit, their work remains the Newport, Rhode Island–based ITHOF's most requested traveling exhibit.

Celebrated, outsize personalities from decades past—Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe, and Robert Johnson—certainly are saluted here. Additional stories, just as compelling, receive deserving spotlights also, including an impressive set of living voices: Bob Ryland, who in 1959 became the first Black professional tennis player; Jimmie McDaniel, who famously once battled against multi-major winner Don Budge; and Virginia Glass, the all-Black American Tennis Association's first female president; are among them.

There are far more, hailing from the early 1900s to 1920s even, as this exhibit rather thoroughly documents a 120-year span in African-American tennis history.

After working your way through these stories, do chase your digestion (as perusal is not an option) of ITHOF's "Breaking the Barriers" digital exhibit with TENNIS.com's Steve Tignor writing about Art Carrington and Jimmie McDaniel. Because once you start delving into these stories, you'll want not just to consume—but ponder—everything available about them. These players are much more than forehands, serves, and volleys. This exhibit reminds us that people are poems, and their poetry remains in motion.