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 fol-
lowing resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform 
RESOLUTION 
Commemorating Arthur Ashe, a native of Richmond, Vir-
ginia, 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 Af-
rica, 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 Acad-
emy, 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 play-
ground 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 African- 
American 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 bach-
elor’s degree in Business Administration and was as-
signed 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 accomplish-
ments of Arthur Ashe included National Collegiate Ath-
letic 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 tur-
bulent 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 refu-
gees by the United States Government; 
Whereas Arthur Ashe researched the history of African- 
American 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 con-
tracting 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 disproportion-
ately affected marginalized communities, including com-
munities of color; 
Whereas Arthur Ashe succumbed to HIV/AIDS and died on 
February 6, 1993, and became the first African Amer-
ican to lie in state at the Governor’s Mansion in Rich-
mond; and 
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•HRES 1054 IH 
Whereas President Bill Clinton posthumously awarded Ar-
thur Ashe the Presidential Medal of Freedom on June 
20, 1993, and the Richmond City Council voted unani-
mously to erect a statue on historic Monument Avenue to 
honor his achievements: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) honors Arthur Ashe, a native of Richmond, 
Virginia, on the 50th anniversary of his historic win 
at the United States Open Tennis Championship; 
and 
(2) celebrates his contributions to education, 
scholarship, the antiapartheid movement, and HIV/ 
AIDS awareness. 
Æ 
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