Celebrating the people and events of Black History in America
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Arthur Ashe Takes a Stand Against South African Apartheid
In 1970, tennis great Arthur Ashe used his celebrity to fight South African apartheid. Ashe had applied for a visa to South Africa so that he could play in the prestigous South African Open. As Ashe expected, the visa was denied because of his race. Shrewdly, Ashe used the occasion to take a stand against the oppression of apartheid by calling for the expulsion of South Africa from the International Lawn Tennis Association. Ashe's outcry would be one of many blows he would strike against apartheid as an activist and as an athlete.
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