The tennis star and civil rights activist join eight other already announced nominees.
Tennis star Serena Williams and civil rights activist Ruby Bridges will be inducted into the US’s National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2024. The institution, founded in 1969 honours women for their achievements and impact on a national and global scale.
Williams and Bridges will receive their honour in an induction ceremony during Women’s History Month, next March. “The 2024 inductee class has broken barriers, challenged the status quo, and left an impact on history,” the Hall of Fame said in its announcement.
The pair are new nominees announced after eight women were already selected. Williams and Bridges became available after the date and location of the ceremony were changed, a spokesman said.
Williams, 42, is a 23-time Grand Slam tennis champion who holds the record for the longest player ranked No. 1. She retired from tennis last year and earlier this month became the first athlete to win the Fashion Icon award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
Bridges, 69, was a 6-year-old first-grader when she became one of the first Black students at racially segregated schools in New Orleans in 1960. In 1963, painter Norman Rockwell recreated the scene in the painting, ‘The Problem We All Live With’. The Ruby Bridges Foundation she established 24 years ago promotes tolerance and change through education.
