''Don't Tell Me How to Think': Arthur Ashe and the Burden of Race'

The UCLA Bunche Center for African American Studies presents Damion Thomas discussing Arthur Ashe and his struggles with race.

Friday, February 09, 2007
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
135 Haines Hall
UCLA campus
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Shortly before his death from complications associated with AIDS in 1993, Arthur Ashe informed an astonished reporter from People magazine that being black was a greater burden than having AIDS.  Scholars and pundits who have addressed Ashe's contention that race was the biggest burden in his life have rightly focused on his experiences as an African-American male who grew up in segregated Richmond, Virginia.  However, heretofore scholars have overlooked the racial politics within the black community that shaped Ashe's response.

This talk uses Arthur Ashe as a means to explore the contentious debates within the African-American community as Black Power advocates challenged the tactics and philosophies of the Civil Rights movement.

Damion Thomas is assistant professor, Sport Commerce and Cultural Program, University of Maryland, College Park.

--This presentation is part of the Bunche Center Circle of Thought Lecture Series.

Bunche Center for African American Studies Circle of Thought (Brown Bag Lunch Series) -- Winter Quarter 2007

All events will take place in the Library and Media Center, Haines Hall 135, unless otherwise noted.

• Friday, March 2  --  12:00 Noon
  Paul Robeson: The Quintessential Public Intellectual
  Paul Von Blum
  Senior Lecturer, Interdepartmental Program in Afro-American Studies, UCLA

Cost : Free and open to the public; parking is available for $8.

For more information please contact:

Bunche Center for African American Studies

www.bunche.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): , Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.