Arthur Ashe

Read this brief biography of tennis professional, author, and activist Arthur Ashe.
Grades:
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Themes:
  1943-1993
Athlete
Birthplace: Richmond, VA

Arthur Ashe was the first black man to win a U.S. tennis championship (1968) and the first black man to win Wimbledon (1975). He was also the first U.S. player of any race to earn $100,000 in a single year (1970). Ashe won the Davis Cup as both player (1968-70) and captain (1981-82). He wrote a history of African Americans in sports called Hard Road to Glory. In 1992, Ashe announced that he was infected with the AIDS virus from a blood transfusion. Until his death in 1993, Ashe was an activist on race relations, apartheid, and AIDS.




Related Resources


Web Resource
CNN/SI Arthur Ashe Photo Gallery
12 photographs of Arthur Ashe, from childhood to adulthood.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/features/1997/arthurashe/gallery1.html

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