Jack Sayan

1/21/20
English 11 Arthur Ashe

Arthur Ashe was a tennis legend who rose to fame for being black and gay in a time

where being gay and black was a bad time because racial and sexual discrimination was

happening. In the 1960s the U.S. was in a war about discrimination between blacks and whites.

During this time living as a black man in the south wasn’t a great thing you had to deal with

racism and being made fun of for your skin color. In the early 1960s to the early 1980s, there

was one tennis player name Arthur Ashe who rose to fame for being black and gay to play a

sport mainly played by white men during a time where whites were against blacks. Arthur was

born into this “war” between whites and blacks and he was constantly made fun of for being

black. Arthur was a role model for the black community despite being made fun of for being gay

and black he succeeded in his goal to be the best tennis player in history. Arthur had meany

opticals to play with pro tennis players because mainly the pros that played were white and no

black man ever played with whites at pro-level. When Arthur started to play pro-level tennis he

his first year playing wasn’t so good he was constantly annoyed by people mocking him for

being gay and black and that stopped his performance.

Arthur overcame all his obstacles by focusing on what he loved to do and started

winning games. He became the first African American to be ranked number 1 overall in the

world and the first black man to win singles titles. Sadly after Arthur retired from playing tennis

he later died from the AIDS virus and it was a sad time for the world because he was a role

model for black and gay people. Arthur reminds me of myself when I found out when I had

dyslexia. I was in kindergarten and my teachers at my old school would separate me away from

the normal classes and put me with the slow learners class. This was a huge comparison to

Arthur because during his time blacks were separated from whites and I was separated from the

other kids who were ahead of me. Just like Arthur, I was made fun of for having this learning

problem and Arthur was made fun of for being black and gay. The obstacles I had to overcome
were dealing with teachers who would think I was stupid and thought I wouldn’t do good in life.

Also, just like how Arthur had to deal with bullying I had to deal with having names called at me.

The names I would be called were stupid, dumb, retard, and other hurtfull names and I felt

hopeless because I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. When I went to 3d grade I moved to a

new school witch helped me with my learning differences just like Arthur when he became

famous and delt with the hate he became the best he could be. I look up to Arthur as a role

model because he represents hard work, loyalty, and respect. They are the traits of a hero that

I would look up too.