Citizen Ashe

In CITIZEN ASHE, documentary filmmakers Rex Miller and Sam Pollard tell the story of tennis star Arthur Ashe from his childhood to his untimely death due to AIDS-related pneumonia. Ashe, who grew up in Richmond, Virginia, lived near a public tennis court, where he would practice for hours on end. He later moved to St. Louis to train with a renowned coach and then to Los Angeles, where he became the first Black person to play for the U.S. Davis Cup Team. Ashe faced frequent discrimination as a Black man in a sport dominated by White people. While he was directly impacted by prejudice, he was hesitant to speak out because, as the movie puts it, "in the South, if you get angry too quickly, your life could be in danger." But as Ashe solidified his standing in the world of tennis, he became a fierce advocate in the fight for civil rights. He had a unique position as a Black man in a predominantly White arena -- and he used it to his advantage. While he was in college at UCLA, Ashe joined ROTC, where he gave a speech on civil rights that he was immediately reprimanded for. Later, he applied for a visa to play in South Africa to "crack the wall" of apartheid. South Africa continuously barred his request, calling him "persona non grata." When he was finally admitted into South Africa, Ashe fought for the stadium to be desegregated. In 1975, Ashe became the first Black player to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon. When he was diagnosed with HIV, funding for AIDS-related research and for public education about HIV became another fight.