IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1054 

Commemorating Arthur Ashe, a native of Richmond, Virginia, on the 50th 

anniversary of his historic win at the 1968 United States Open Tennis 

Championship and honoring his humanitarian contributions to civil 

rights, education, the movement against apartheid in South Africa, and 

HIV/AIDS awareness. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 

Mr. MCEACHIN (for himself and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 

Government Reform 

RESOLUTION 

Commemorating Arthur Ashe, a native of Richmond, Virginia, on the 50th anniversary of his historic win at 

the 1968 United States Open Tennis Championship and 

honoring his humanitarian contributions to civil rights, 

education, the movement against apartheid in South Africa, and HIV/AIDS awareness. 

Whereas Arthur Ashe won the United States Open Tennis 

Championship on September 9, 1968, in the first year 

the tournament was open to professionals, while he was 

on active duty based at the United States Military Academy, also known as West Point; 


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•HRES 1054 IH 

Whereas Arthur Ashe’s victory, following his amateur tennis 

U.S. National Championship title two weeks earlier, 

marked the first time an African-American man won a 

major title; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe was born in Richmond, Virginia, on 

July 10, 1943, and raised by his widowed father in a 

house on the grounds of Brook Field, the largest playground for Blacks in Richmond, the segregated capital of 

the former Confederacy; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe first learned to play tennis at the age 

of 7 years and showed enough talent to later receive 

coaching and guidance from Dr. Robert Walter Johnson, 

a pioneer for Black tennis players; 

Whereas, although prohibited in Richmond from competing in 

tournaments and practicing at municipal indoor courts 

because of segregation, Arthur Ashe won the National 

Junior Indoor tennis title, becoming the first AfricanAmerican male to do so and earning a scholarship in 

1963 to play tennis at the University of California, Los 

Angeles (UCLA), where he joined the Reserve Officer 

Training Corps; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and was assigned to West Point by the United States Army, where 

he earned promotions to first lieutenant and also led the 

tennis program; 

Whereas the amateur and professional tennis accomplishments of Arthur Ashe included National Collegiate Athletic Association singles and doubles titles, the Australian 

Open title in 1970, and the Wimbledon title in 1975; 


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•HRES 1054 IH 

Whereas Arthur Ashe became the first Black player selected 

to the Davis Cup team for the United States, which he 

later coached; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe’s accomplishments on the tennis court 

gave him a platform to pursue social justice during a turbulent time in the civil rights era; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe’s activism included efforts to end 

apartheid in South Africa; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe pushed for, and eventually earned, a 

visa to play in the tennis National Championships in 

South Africa in 1973; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe was arrested twice, first for protesting 

outside the Embassy of South Africa in Washington, DC, 

and later for protesting the repatriation of Haitian refugees by the United States Government; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe researched the history of AfricanAmerican athletics and published a groundbreaking book, 

‘‘Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American 

Athlete’’, celebrating the accomplishments of heroes 

known and unknown; 

Whereas, after suffering a heart attack in 1979 and contracting HIV/AIDS as a result of a blood transfusion, 

Arthur Ashe resolved to educate the people of the United 

States and the world about the disease and advocated for 

more resources to end an epidemic that disproportionately affected marginalized communities, including communities of color; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe succumbed to HIV/AIDS and died on 

February 6, 1993, and became the first African American to lie in state at the Governor’s Mansion in Richmond; and 


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•HRES 1054 IH 

Whereas President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded Arthur Ashe the Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 

20, 1993, and the Richmond City Council voted unanimously to erect a statue on historic Monument Avenue to 

honor his achievements: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) honors Arthur Ashe, a native of Richmond, 

3 Virginia, on the 50th anniversary of his historic win 

4 at the United States Open Tennis Championship; 

5 and 

6 (2) celebrates his contributions to education, 

7 scholarship, the antiapartheid movement, and HIV/ 

8 AIDS awareness. 

Æ 


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