ARTHUR ASHE PHOTOGRAPH

Who was Arthur Ashe?

A champion of human dignity around the world, Arthur Robert Ashe overcame the discrimination he faced growing up in Richmond to become a top-ranked tennis player and acclaimed author. Ashe learned tennis from coaches in Richmond and Lynchburg. In spite of being barred from many local and regional tournaments, which excluded African American players, he won national youth titles in 1960 and 1961. A successful collegiate career at UCLA and selection as the first African American player on the U.S. Davis Cup team cemented his status as one of the world's best amateurs. Ashe won the U.S. Open in 1968 and, after turning professional the following year, thirty-three pro titles, including the Australian Open and Wimbledon. After his retirement from playing, he coached the U.S. Davis Cup team to two titles.

Ashe advanced the rights of blacks in America and throughout the world. His dignified approach to tennis and to life served to rebut negative stereotypes. With forceful rhetoric he decried the conditions faced by African Americans and protested the apartheid regime in South Africa. Ashe's interest in education spurred him to write a history of African American athletes, A Hard Road to Glory (1988). A television documentary based on the book won him an Emmy award.

Heart problems forced Ashe to undergo two surgeries, the latter of which required a blood transfusion. Serving as chairman of the American Heart Association in 1981, he added health advocacy to his list of public commitments. When it was revealed that through the transfusion he had acquired HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, he campaigned for those suffering from the disease. His humanitarian legacy has included the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and the Arthur Ashe Program in AIDS Care.

 Because of the bigotry he had experienced, Ashe was long estranged from Richmond and Virginia. Eventually he reestablished ties and created a mentoring program called Virginia Heroes. Richmond honored him with a statue on its Monument Avenue, previously renowned for celebrations of eminent Confederates.

 For further information, see his full biography in John T. Kneebone et al., eds., Dictionary of Virginia Biography (Richmond, 1998– ), 1:226–228.

 This photograph, published on February 16, 1970, shows Ashe accepting a trophy from Virginia's governor A. Linwood Holton Jr. after winning the Fidelity Bankers Invitational tennis tournament.

Vocabulary Words:

• Discrimination— treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit.

• Prejudice— an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.

• Equality— the state or quality of being equal; comparable in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability.

• Apartheid—the segregated political system in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s.

Lesson Ideas:

• Have students write a short news article to accompany the picture. They can research the event and report the facts, or use it as a creative writing exercise to compose an interview with Ashe.

• Have students create a timeline or a PowerPoint presentation based on the life of Arthur Ashe.

• Have students compare and contrast the life of an African American tennis star today with that of Arthur Ashe.

• Have students interview adults who remember Ashe's tennis career. Use these interviews as an oral history project to learn about Ashe's influence both on and off the tennis court.

Research and Discussion Questions:

• Look at the photograph with students before studying the life of Arthur Ashe. Ask the class what they can infer from the image.

♦ When do you think this picture was taken? Why?

♦ What do you think is happening in the picture?

Steins, Richard. Arthur Ashe: A Biography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2005.

New York Times, February 8, 1993.

Sports Illustrated, February 15, 1993.

Video: Arthur Ashe, African American Trailblazer