TUSKEGEE – In honor of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Title IX ruling, Tuskegee Athletics will spotlight former student athletes and pioneers who have helped shape the history of women's sports not only at Tuskegee but around the globe. This week we recognize Margaret and Matilda (Roumania) Peters, two legendary tennis players.

Margaret and Roumania Peters were tennis stars from the late 1930s through the early 1950s. Margaret, the older sister, was born in 1915, while Roumania was born in 1917, both growing up in the Georgetown district of Washington, D.C. where their tennis journeys began. As young girls, they could often be seen playing at a park across from their home in Georgetown. They were nicknamed "Pete" and "Repeat" for their doubles playing skills and last name.

While still in high school, the Peters sisters attracted the attention of legendary coach Cleve L. Abbott, who offered each of them both four-year scholarships to Tuskegee. Margaret, feeling uneasy about traveling so far away from home, deferred for a year until Roumania graduated from high school.

The Peters sisters arrived at Tuskegee in 1937, where they played both basketball and tennis before earning their degrees in physical education in 1941. The sisters also competed in the American Tennis Association, ATA, tournaments while in college. The ATA is the African American tennis league that still exists today.

After college, they both continued to play amateur tennis in the ATA. Since they were amateurs, they had to pay for their own equipment, entry fees, and travel expenses. They won 14 doubles tennis titles between 1938 and 1941 and between 1944 and 1953, gaining fame while playing for celebrities, British royalty, and also practicing with actors such as Gene Kelly.

Despite their skill, they were never permitted to test themselves against the great white doubles players of the time. By the time the walls of segregation in tennis started falling, the Peters sisters were past their prime and were never able to compete in racially integrated matches.

Margaret moved to New York City, New York for a short time after graduating from Tuskegee and received a master's degree in physical education from New York University. She returned to Washington D.C. and worked as a special education teacher. She earned a second master's degree in special education from Coppin State College in Baltimore, Maryland.

Roumania played singles as well as doubles with her sister, while also winning national singles titles from the ATA in 1944 and 1946. The 1946 title was won against none other than a young Althea Gibson, who went on later to become the first African-American woman to play competitive tennis against her white contemporaries. Roumania is still the only African-American woman to defeat the former Grand Slam Champion Gibson.

Like her sister, Roumania also went on to receive her master's degree in physical education from NYU after graduating from Tuskegee. She later taught at Howard University in the 1950's and then the Washington Public School System from 1964 to 1981. She also taught tennis to underprivileged children through the District of Columbia Department of Recreation.

The Peters sisters were inducted into the Tuskegee Hall of Fame in 1977.

Title IX at 50 
"No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance." - Signed by President Richard Nixon on June 23, 1972.  
  
While the federal legislation applied to the entire education sector, some of the greatest impacts of Title IX applied in the athletics field.  
 
The landmark legislation set out to ensure equal educational opportunities regardless of gender allowed more women and girls to participate in athletics programs, earn scholarships and attend college. Nationally, more than 216,000 female athletes compete in the NCAA and Tuskegee is home to six women's programs.
 
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