Richmond celebrates formal renaming of Arthur Ashe Boulevard
Posted June 22, 2019 2:40 pm.
Last Updated June 22, 2019 7:53 pm.
RICHMOND, Va. — Groundbreaking black tennis player Arthur Ashe Jr.’s hometown of Richmond, Virginia has renamed a major thoroughfare after him, after years of effort.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that thousands of people attended a ceremony Saturday to celebrate the formal renaming of Arthur Ashe Boulevard.
Ashe was the first black player selected to the U.S. Davis Cup team and the only black man to ever win the singles title at the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open.
He also was a well-known philanthropist who promoted education and civil rights.
Congressman John Lewis of Georgia was the keynote speaker Saturday.
Ashe’s once-segregated hometown has an athletic centre named after him and a sculpture of him. But proposals to rename a street for him have been defeated multiple times since Ashe’s 1993 death.
The Associated Press
