Rose Park Tennis Courts to Be Dedicated to Trailblazing Black Sisters

The tennis courts at the Rose Parks Recreation Center will be dedicated as the Margaret Peters and Roumania Peters Walker Rose Park Tennis Courts on Oct. 24. “Pete” and “Repeat,” as the African American sisters were nicknamed, respectively, were trailblazers for black women in professional tennis, having won a record 14 American Tennis Association doubles championships from the 1930s to the 1950s. Roumania won two singles titles as well, including one against legendary Althea Gibson in 1946, the only black woman to beat her in a major tournament.

The Peters sisters grew up in Georgetown around the corner from the courts and played their growing up. They played together at Tuskegee University and both earned master’s degrees from New York University. They both taught in D.C. public schools and Roumania also taught at Howard University.