Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia has seen more than a few come down since the year began. “I just come down here to uplift his name because I don’t want him to be known as the crazy naked black man,” Peters said. Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia has seen more than a few come down since the year began. The Arthur Ashe monument is located on Monument Avenue, among several Confederate statues that have been vandalized recently. The Arthur Ashe monument is located on Monument Avenue, among several Confederate statues that have been vandalized recently. Some view the case as an exhibit for relieving police of the particular duties better suited to mental health professionals. Paint covers the base of the Arthur Ashe Monument on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 in Richmond, Va. Ashe was an athlete, an … And he looked across toward Lee’s likeness and said, “As long as that man is up there, the same laws still apply.”, About 1⅓ miles from Lee, Ashe still stood Friday morning on the 77th anniversary of his birth, his goodness retold in a thousand recollections. Ashe, who wrote later in his memoir about his determination to refrain from embarrassing any questioner, replied calmly: “Son, you’re from Virginia. The Arthur Ashe monument was dedicated in 1996 to memorialize the Richmond native and counterbalance the string of statues on Memorial Avenue dedicated to … Sculptor Paul DiPasquale heard Ashe speak at an event and was impressed by what he heard. The Arthur Ashe Monument is a bronze sculpture by Paul DiPasquale installed along Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue. In the letter, she argued that the monument "honors Richmond, Virginia, more than it does its son, his legacy, and his life's work. You know better than that.”, (He hadn’t been allowed to play juniors. The statue's placement lacked a correlation between the tennis star and the Confederate leaders already represented on the Avenue. In 1988, near the end of an hour-long interview in the tennis stands at UCLA, the reporter wondered about Ashe’s experiences playing juniors in Richmond. Find 15 photos of the 805 N Arthur Ashe Boulevard Monument #2810-1 apartment on Zillow. On June 10, protesters yanked down the statue of Jefferson Davis. So I was against it.”. The Arthur Ashe monument was dedicated in 1996 to honor the Richmond native, who in 1963 became the first black player ever selected for the United States Davis Cup team. [11] This decision was met with opposition by both black and white people, both objecting to its placement beside statues of Confederate generals. “The purpose of putting the monument up in the first place was because all people matter, and that was certainly Arthur Ashe’s message. [7], On July 17, city council held an eight hour long hearing on the location of the statue, eventually voting 7-0 in favor of the Monument Avenue location. “Well, it was rewarding,” Johnnie Ashe said by telephone Wednesday evening. Traffic passes by the statue of tennis star Arthur Ashe on Monument Avenue, Friday, July 10, 2020, in Richmond, Va. Family members of Ashe and … The family will not request even a temporary removal, Ashe’s nephew, David Harris Jr., told the Associated Press on Friday, leaving the fleeting doubt as another bygone bump in a road that has known greater bumpiness: its outset in the mid-1990s, when the idea of Ashe’s placement on Monument Avenue wreaked wrangling. [21], In 2017, Mental Floss named the monument #3 on its listicle "10 Unintentionally Horrifying Statues of Famous People," writing that Ashe was "frozen forever in a state of seemingly mocking [the children] for their lack of height. And I think the value of public art is it reflects the thinking of the culture at the time. It was very tense. The Arthur Ashe monument was dedicated in 1996 to memorialize the Richmond native and counterbalance the string of statues on Memorial Avenue dedicated to … But there’s one that still stands, due to its subject being one of the most admired figures in American sports. Paint covers the base of the Arthur Ashe Monument on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 in Richmond, Va. [10] The designs were first unveiled, in plaster form, in December 1994 at the Ashe Center. Sculptor Paul DiPasquale heard Ashe speak at an event and was impressed by what he heard. Yet upon the dedication July 10, 1996, an Ashe-like calm took hold and held on. Following his death, Ashe's widow Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe approved the studies, and recommended Virginia Heroes Incorporated for funding. June 17, 2020 A monument to the black tennis legend Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Va., was vandalized with spray paint that read “WLM” and “White Lives Matter” on Wednesday. A crowd gathers at the base of the Arthur Ashe Monument in Richmond, Virginia after a July 10, 1996 ceremony dedicating the statue. Arthur Ashe Monument. Now, on the same avenue, he gave a speech. [7] The groundbreaking was eventually held on August 15. Dell recalled Ashe’s three-volume series on the history of the African American athlete: “It’s quite unusual and very, very well done. “And it was fitting, considering all that Arthur had done for Richmond, the state of Virginia. That left two, and as Gov. [15] Several days later, Moutoussamy-Ashe reached an agreement with Citizens for Excellence in Public Art, a group lead by gallary owner Beverly Reynolds, wherein both parties would help raise $20 million for the envisioned hall-of-fame, and the DiPasquale statue would be moved there upon completion. [6][7] In 1960, Ashe moved to St. Louis to attend Sumner High School. 500 attended the event, and several people raised Confederate flags over the stage. Following his death of AIDS-related pneumonia on February 6, 1993, Ashe's body laid in state at Virginia's Executive Mansion, located in Richmond. Yet over the past month, a possibility shimmered on the Virginia horizon and beyond: As Confederate statue after Confederate statue toppled one way or another and headed for the storage sheds, it seemed, after all this time and tortured history, the six somehow might distill to one: Ashe, the adored tennis star, author and civil rights humanitarian. [3] Ashe faces west, towards the suburbs, while the children face east. Favoring that Ashe stand on Monument Avenue from the beginning were city council members such as Baskerville, Chuck Richardson and Tim Kaine, as well as L. Douglas Wilder, the governor from 1990 to 1994, who stressed that what he calls “the living room of the city” ought to feature its most revered native. And while Lee’s plausible exit with the horse he rode in on remains stalled in the tangle of litigation, Ashe figures to stay put, even after some family members expressed trepidation that potential retribution might warrant relocation. A worker guides the Stonewall Jackson statue to a truck after it was removed from Arthur Ashe Boulevard Wednesday, July 1, 2020. Monument Avenue is a long avenue. Don’t let this moment pass you by. And when I was a child, if you went to somebody’s house to work, you went to the back door.’ ”, He said, “I think the thing that struck me the most about [the unveiling] was how well it was received.” Wilder remembered “the people bringing their kids up, the children.” Donald Dell, Ashe’s longtime lawyer and friend, remembers such loveliness that he didn’t even notice the objectors marginalized in the distance. By Staff and Wire Reports Updated July 11, 2020, 8:57 a.m. The statue became either the first or last depending on your direction, about a third of a mile from the next: Matthew Fontaine Maury, the scientist and Confederate naval officer who contributed much to the country but also advocated repairing the sin of slavery by forcing enslaved human beings off to Brazil. View more property details, sales history and Zestimate data on Zillow. That had happened June 17, after graffiti swamped the other statues amid protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, when Ashe’s got its own trace of unwanted paint — “White Lives Matter” — before some citizens applied some ferocious cleansers and hurriedly erased it. Police in Richmond, Virginia are reportedly investigating the vandalization of a statue depicting tennis legend and civil rights activist Arthur Ashe along the city's Monument Avenue.. “He always believed more people were good than not.”. [11], With the urging of City Manager Robert Bobb, Richmond City Council approved the placement of the statue on Monument Avenue in June 1995. Argument arrived in multiple streams, Baskerville recalled, from African Americans who didn’t want Ashe sullied on “an avenue of losers” to citizens who preferred Ashe in Byrd Park overlooking the courts where segregation once denied him access to those who “didn’t like the art,” she said. I felt as if Richmond was turning a page in its history and was starting to acknowledge that the Confederate monuments should not be there, but it was not at the point we are now, which is 20-some years later, but was starting to put a marker in the earth, in that we are starting to honor a new generation of people who speak and fight for the truth and support all people.”. “He couldn’t come to the dedication,” DiPasquale said, “but when he got out of jail, he said, ‘I would like to go see the statue with you.’ He looked at it, he said, ‘This could only happen in America, that a man like Arthur Ashe, being Arthur Ashe, could stand on an avenue with Confederate soldiers who fought to keep him enslaved!’ ”. [13], On January 1, 1996, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published a letter by Moutoussamy-Ashe. A statue of tennis legend Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Virginia was defaced on Wednesday. The famed tennis player and Richmond native who championed education and civil rights around the world was still alive and in the Richmond area then. His uncle, Jeffery Peters, sat across the street from the Lee statue on a recent Friday — in the shade, in a lawn chair, keeping vigil. The Arthur Ashe monument is located on Monument Avenue, among several Confederate statues that have been vandalized recently. So I absolutely agree it is powerful he will be the only one standing; however, if change can happen with works, that will be more powerful to me than the monument standing there himself.”. The Arthur Ashe Monument is a bronze sculpture by Paul DiPasquale installed along Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue. A considerable sign has renamed the circle “Marcus-David Peters Circle,” remembering a 24-year-old Richmond high school biology teacher killed by police in May 2018 after a harrowing mental health episode on a Monday during which Peters had taught a full set of classes. [5] In the following years, Ashe would become the first player selected to the United States Davis Cup team (1981), and was the only black man to win the singles title at the US Open (1968), the Australian Open (1975), and Wimbledon (1975) tennis tournaments. “Arthur Ashe, a true hero whose shining performance on and off the tennis court gave him world fame, deserves far more than Monument Avenue,” wrote Raymond Boone in June 1995. There’s plenty of room for other heroes, there’s plenty of room for other art. On Richmond’s Monument Avenue, a monument to Black tennis legend and civil rights activist Arthur Ashe interrupted the collection … Never.”. The Arthur Ashe monument is located on Monument Avenue, among several Confederate statues that have been vandalized recently. He retired in April 1980. It was stressful.”. [2], On July 1, 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, Mayor Levar Stoney ordered all statues to Confederate generals on city property taken down; as a result, the only statues on Monument Avenue are of Ashe and of Robert E. Lee, the latter on state property. [18], On July 16, the pedestal of the monument was vandalized with spray paint reading "White Lives Matter" and "WLM." "[19][20] Ashe's family gave the city of Richmond permission to remove the statue if this was needed to protect it from further harm; this was initially misreported as a request to remove the statue. At age 9, he had helped his uncle paint that house. [7][9], DiPasquale met Ashe in 1992, and received permission to design a statue of him. By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. “And then there were, of course, the Confederate sympathizers who said no.” Even the sculptor, Paul DiPasquale, who had discussed the work by telephone with Ashe two weeks before Ashe’s death in February 1993 of complications from AIDS after he contracted HIV from a post-surgery blood transfusion, had thought: “I felt like I knew Monument Avenue was going to be a fight, and I didn’t want to lose, and I thought it would dishonor Arthur Ashe [to lose]. And as of Friday, the possibility still flickered that, if five other statues wind up cleared as evildoers, there might stand alone the goodness that abounded in Ashe. Arthur Ashe statue is staying put on Monument Avenue in Richmond By Staff and Wire Reports Updated July 11, 2020, 8:57 a.m. Disagreement persisted into 1996 as, on New Year’s Day, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Arthur’s widow, penned an op-ed column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, preferring the idea of the statue at the prospective African American sports museum her husband had envisioned. The ideals and the changes that my uncle worked for during his life are more important than the monuments. At this point, CEMA would hold a $1 million international competition to find a better design to be placed at Monument Avenue. You walk down that street, people would be opening doors, ‘Boy, what are you doing around here?’ That was off-limits unless you were going to somebody’s house to work. Ralph Northam (D) already had advocated the removal of the mammoth, state-owned statue of Lee on horseback, the oldest of the bunch at 130 years, it does seem the Ashe statue might stand powerfully alone. The statue depicts tennis player Arthur Ashe, who was born and raised in Richmond. Yet just two weeks after the ground-breaking ceremony, the issue concerning the statue's placement erupted in [12] One alternative location, supported by Mayor Leonidas B. Monument Avenue Historic District marker near Arthur Ashe Monument Marker This small concrete block with two markers is directly southeast of the Arthur Ashe monument along Monument Avenue. A statue of tennis legend Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Virginia was defaced on Wednesday. I really do. A monument to the black tennis legend Arthur Ashe in Richmond, Va., was vandalized with spray paint that read “WLM” and “White Lives Matter” on Wednesday. The monument of Ashe is one of six on Monument Avenue in Richmond. [11][16][7], The statue was cast by DiPasquale in Waynesboro, Virginia and shipped to Richmond on a flatbed truck driven by Robbie Drumheller. The statue of the African American tennis legend has … “The tension in the room was one I had never, ever felt in a public meeting,” Baskerville said. ", "Arthur Ashe, who stood for so much, might be the last statue standing in Richmond", "Ashe Statue Joins Those of Confederates", "National Historic Landmark Nomination Form: Monument Avenue Historic District", "On Richmond's evolving Monument Avenue, myth and ugly lies run deep", "Tear Down the Monuments, Bring Our Cities to Life", "The Motionless Ghosts That Haunt the South", "Sketch of Arthur Ashe, by Paul DiPasquale, 1993", "Race-Tinged Furor Stalls Arthur Ashe Memorial", "City Firm on Ashe Statue Monument Avenue Memorial Location Wins Over Council", "Arthur Ashe Statue Set Up in Richmond at Last", "Statue of Arthur Ashe won't be removed in Richmond", "Arthur Ashe Statue in Virginia Vandalized With 'White Lives Matter, Arthur Ashe statue to stay up in Richmond after vandalism, ‘White Lives Matter’ graffiti, "10 Unintentionally Horrifying Statues of Famous People", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arthur_Ashe_Monument&oldid=977874784, Buildings and structures in Richmond, Virginia, Sculptures of children in the United States, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 11 September 2020, at 14:03. Never. In June of 1995 ground was broken on Monument Avenue for the placement of the Arthur Ashe statue, a site proposed and supported by Richmond's Planning Commission. Arthur Ashe statue is staying put on Monument Avenue in Richmond. "[14] According to Moutossamy-Ashe, her husband had expected the monument to go in front of an African-American sports hall-of-fame. Nine crayon and pencil studies of Ashe were created before his death in 1993. 7/11/2020: The statue of J.E.B. The likeness of Ashe — that decent, unassuming former Richmond kid Wilder used to see when “the racket was bigger than he was” — stood peacefully at 28 feet for the next 24 years, with the Ashe part the top 12 of the feet. “That is incredible.”, Johnnie Ashe said he hadn’t given any thought to the last-statue-standing concept but said: “I do think, in all this time, it was truly the first instrument of change in Richmond. Johnnie Ashe, Arthur’s younger brother whose 20 years in the Marine Corps included a second tour of Vietnam that enabled Arthur to keep pursuing tennis, found himself noticing a house three homes down. That would be Arthur Ashe, the first Black man to win the US Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open, who grew up in Richmond. The Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond (John McDonnell/The Washington Post) Ashe was an athlete, an activist and most importantly, a true gentleman whose life on and off the tennis court continues to impact the world, even almost 30 years after his death. The statue was placed upon its pedestal on July 3, 1996,[17] and unveiled on July 10. "[22] When reached out to by Salon, sculptor DiPasquale said that "If you always see what you always saw, you will always get what you always got," and that "judging art, like life, depends on what you bring to it, I'm sure. 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