Wimbledon. A few hours ago, after an hour and forty-two minutes of tennis, the fifth seeded Elena Dementieva hit a forehand shot straight into the net and Venus Williams took the set and the match and will soon meet sister Serena in the finals.

It is worth pointing out that the American Tennis Association, founded in 1916, was the first black sports association in America. It is also worth mentioning that it wasn't until 1950, when Althea Gibson won the US Championships, that tennis' color barrier was considered broken.

That said, when I was growing up, the only recognizable African-American playing tennis was Arthur Ashe. While Ashe won the US open in 1968, I was a year old back then and mostly he was gone from the sport by the time I was old enough to notice.

The same goes for golf. While Ann Gregory was the first African American women to enter a US Amateur Championship in 1956 and Charles Sifford became the first black African American PGA Tour member in 1962, mostly, by the time I was in high school the only skin tones out on the links were as pale as mine.

Sure, I grew up in the Midwest and things change slower there. But despite the aforementioned landmarks, during my youth, such country club sports were still the domain of white people. There may have been plenty of color in mainstream sport, but there still weren't too many blacks in power positions.

Things have changed a bit since then.

About a month ago, this country got its very first African American Presidential candidate. A few weeks back, in what many considered the gutsiest golf exhibition ever, Tiger Woods won the 2008 US Open and his fourteenth major title. Later today the Compton-born and bred Williams sisters will slug it out for the Wimbledon title.

All of which is my way of saying Happy Fourth of July. Good job America.