III 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 624 

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

anniversary of his historic win at the 1968 U.S. 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 

Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mr. WARNER, Mrs. CAPITO, and Mr. BOOKER) 

submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

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

the 1968 U.S. 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 U.S. 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; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe’s victory, following his amateur U.S. 

National Championship title two weeks earlier, marked 


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•SRES 624 ATS 

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 7 years 

old 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; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe became the first black player selected 

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

later coached; 


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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 National Championships in South Africa in 1973; 

Whereas Arthur Ashe was arrested twice, first for protesting 

outside the Embassy of South Africa in Washington, 

D.C., 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 complications from 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 

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

20, 1993, and the Richmond City Council voted unaniVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:44 Sep 07, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR624.ATS SR624

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mously to erect a statue on historic Monument Avenue to 

honor his achievements: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

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

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

4 at the U.S. Open Tennis Championship; and 

5 (2) celebrates his contributions to education, 

6 scholarship, the anti-apartheid movement, and HIV/ 

7 AIDS awareness. 

Æ 


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