Billie Jean King is going back to college and hoping to inspire others

Billie Jean King has accomplished much in her life, such as being the world’s top woman in tennis, advocating for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, competing on The Masked Singer, beating Bobby Riggs in the famous “Battle of the Sexes,” and earning the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. But one thing she hasn’t done is graduating from college, and she’s planning to cross that off her list.

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King left what was then California State College, Los Angeles, 60 years ago to become number 1 in women’s tennis. She’s always felt a little bad about not finishing her degree, so now she’s going back to the school, now California State University, L.A., to rectify that, she revealed in a video on X. “I was a history major, and now I’m back as a history major,” said King, now 81, who showed some of her textbooks on the video.

“I love it, and we will continue to have episodes along the way to see my road to graduation,” the lesbian icon said.

She went back to school in the spring, and she will finish her degree next year. She is taking her classes remotely, as her other obligations keep her away from L.A., and also earning credit for speaking remotely with prisoners studying for their degrees, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“They have made a commitment to improving their lives through education,” and “getting their degree will be life-changing for them,” she told the Times.

rShe will take classes on U.S. and Latin American history in the fall. She’s also studying Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a federal law against sex discrimination in education for which she advocated. “On that subject, King is more teacher than student,” the Times notes.

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Her professors like “that I have lived some of these historical moments,” she told the paper. She’s not shy about pointing out errors in history she lived, she added. “It drives me crazy,” she said.

King is upset by Trump administration’s efforts to erase history, downplaying the struggles and accomplishments of women and people of color in favor of highlighting white men. She learned “white history” in her youth, she said, and now the federal government is seeking to teach that again — but most colleges and universities have not gone along. She wants to empower younger people to be activists, and knowing history will help, she said.

“It’s important to know history, because the more you know about history, the more you know about yourself,” King told the Times. “But more importantly, it helps you shape the future.”