“The first free black man I saw if you saw”

Fifty years ago, Arthur Ash shot a strange feat, upsetting the chances and became the first black man to win in the Men’s Wimbledon’s finals when he won American American Jimmy Connor, but he didn’t want to determine his life.

His struggle for the destruction of barriers around racial discrimination was closer to his heart – and the apartheid South Africa became one of his combat sites.

“I do not want to be remembered in the final analysis for winning Wimbledon … I applaud for what it has done, but this is not the most important thing in my life – not even close,” he said in an interview with the BBC the year before his death in 1993.

However, the victory at the center of the court on July 5, 1975 was recognized as one of the sports points that call for the spine that stopped everyone in their tracks, whether it is a fan of tennis or not, and he is honored with a special display at the Wimbledon Museum.

Ash was already in the 30s, high, serene and with quiet and uniform behavior. Connor, 10 years younger and defense champion, was an aggressive player and often called “penalty”.

The achievements of the eche and the skills and courage he showed on the site certainly corresponded to his actions.

In the early 1970s, South Africa repeatedly refused to issue a visa to travel to the country with other US players.

The white minority government, which legalized the extreme racial segregation, known as apartheid – or in the upcoming in 1948.

Authorities said the decision to deprive it of it was based on its “common antagonism” and open remarks about South Africa.

However, in 1973, the government gave way and gave a visa to play in the South African open air, which was one of the best tournaments in the world.

It was the first visit of Ash to South Africa, and although it provided that it would only play provided that the stadium was open for black and white viewers, aroused anger among anti-port activists in the US and strong opposition from the sections of the Black Community in South Africa.

British journalist and historian Tennis Richard Evans, who became a life friend of the Ash, was a member of the press building in this round of South Africa.

He says that Ash “painfully aware” about criticism and accusation that he somehow gave legitimacy to the South Africa government – but he was determined to see how people lived there.

“He felt he was always asked about South Africa, but he never was. He said,” How can I comment on a place I don’t know? ” I need to see it and make an opinion. And until I go, I can’t do it. “

Evans recalls that during the excursion of the South African writer and poet Don Matter organized Ash to meet a group of black journalists, but the atmosphere was tense and hostile.

“When I was passing anyone,” said Evans BBC, “I heard someone say,” Uncle Tom, “the glands used to destroy a black man who was considered early to white people.

“And then one or two very vocal journalists got up and said, ‘Arthur, go home. We don’t want you here. You just make it easier for the government to show what they allow anyone to be like you. “

But not all black South Africans were so harsh opposed to the presence of the country in the country.

The author of South Africa and Academic Mark Mataban grew up in the town of Alexander – popularly known as Alex – in northern Johannesburg. Such settlements were created under apartheid on the outskirts of cities, so that white people live.

He first realized Ash in the boy, accompanying his grandmother to his gardening in a British family in the suburbs only for whites.

The lady of the house gave it it in September 1968. The publication of Life magazine from her collection, and there on the front cover was an ausc for Arthur Eshe on the network.

Matheban was fascinated by the picture and her cover “The ice elegance of Arthur Ashe” – and he headed to imitate it.

When Ash went on the 1973 tour, there was only one mission in Mataban – to meet with the Eshe or at least approaching it.

This opportunity appeared when Ash took a vacation from the competition to spend a tennis clinic in South Johannesburg.

The 13 -year -old Mateban made a train trip to get and join many blacks – and mostly young people who turned out to see the tennis star, which they nicknamed “Sipho”.

“He may have been an honorable white white people, but he was a Sifa for us.

“You know, a gift from God, from the ancestors, it means that it is very invaluable, take care of it.

He, caused by excitement at the Soweto Clinic, was not only in this settlement, but also spread across the country, he said.

From rural agreed to shebeens or speakeas (Bars) – wherever the black people gathered, they talked about the visit of Ash.

“For me, he was literally the first free black man I saw,” Mateban said.

After the 1973 excursion, Ash returned to South Africa several more times. In early 1976, he helped to create the Arthur Eshet Center (AASTC) for beginner players in the town.

But shortly after it opened, the center was assembled in the uprisings under the guidance of students against the apartheid regime, which began in June of the same year.

He remained neglected and in an inviolable several years before he was seriously repaired in 2007, and the widow of Ash Zhanna Mouse-Ase was restored.

The complex now has 16 vessels and conducts the library and skills center.

The ambition is to produce a tennis star and a big helmet from the village – and legends such as Serena and Venus Williams have been running there since clinics.

For Motobi Sesel and Masodi KSAB, which were once South African national juniors, and now they are sitting on the AASTC Council, the center goes beyond tennis.

They believe that it is fundamentally talking about grafting work ethics, which covers a number of life skills and confidence.

“We are building young leaders,” the BBC said.

Mr. Seselle, an entrepreneur who was born and raised in the Council, agrees that it will be a vision of Ashe and “,” If I think that his heritage, he believes that we can, into the smallest scale, move the dial very big. “

Initially, Ash was inclined to dispute the apartheid through conversations and participation, believing that he visible and winning the matches in the country, he could undermine the basis of the regime.

But his experience in South Africa and international pressure from the anti -port was convinced that insulation, not interaction would be the most effective way to change in South Africa.

He became a powerful supporter and supporter of the international sports boycott of South Africa, speaking to the UN and the US Congress.

In 1983, at a joint press conference created by the organization of African unity (OAU) and the UN, he told about the goals of artists and athletes against apartheid, which he just founded with American singer Harry Belafonte.

The organization lobbied sanctions against the South Africa government, and its midst had more than 500 members.

Ash joined many protests and actions, and when he was arrested outside the South African Embassy in Washington in 1985, it attracted more international attention to the case and helped to strengthen the global condemnation of the South African regime.

At the time, he was the US Cup captain in Davis and always felt that his arrest was worth his work.

Ash used his platform to resist social injustice, wherever he saw, not only in Africa and South Africa, but also in the US and Haiti.

He was also a teacher on many issues, and, in particular, HIV/AIDS, which he succumbed after the conclusion of the disease from blood transfusions during the heart surgery in the early 1980s.

But he had special closeness with the black population of South Africa, which lives in a repressive mode.

He said he had identified with them from the racial segregated Richmanda in Virginia.

No wonder then that Ash was one of the key figures, that the South African hero against apartheid Nelson Mandela sought to meet on New York, inviting him to a historical assembly in 1990 shortly after his deprivation.

The couple met several times, but Ash did not live to make Mandela president of South Africa after the 1994 elections, which brought democratic administration and dismantling of apartheid.

But, like Ash, Mandela was able to use the sport to push the changes – helping to restore South Africa – especially during the 1995 World Rugby Championship If he was gloriously wore a jersey springOnce hated symbol of apartheid.

In order to celebrate this year’s anniversary, Wimbledon Championships have an installation in an international tennis center tunnery and a new museum about it. They also pass the Trailblazer workshop on the road to mark its achievement.

His Wimbledon’s title became his third rustic crown, which previously won the United States and Australian open.

But for many people, such as Mathabane – which in 1978 became the first Black South African to receive a tennis scholarship at the US University – Arthur Eshe’s heritage was his activity, not his tennis.

“He literally helped release my mind from these mental chains of self-doubt, believe in the great lie about your inferiority and what you are doomed to repeat your parents’ work as an outdoor,” he said.

“So it was magic – because he showed me the opportunity.”