Robert Cooper, UCLA Professor of Education, leads effort to further understanding of Ashe’s impact as a global citizen.
Fifty years ago, UCLA alumnus Arthur Ashe (‘66) stunned the world of sports with his historic 1975 victory in the famed Wimbledon Tennis Championship in London, becoming the first Black man to do so. Ashe’s legacy, however, reaches far beyond his remarkable athletic achievements. Not only was he a groundbreaking tennis champion, he was also a tireless advocate for social justice, civil rights, health, and education. On and off the tennis court, he used his platform to challenge systemic inequities across the globe and to fight for marginalized communities.
Commemorating one of the most significant milestones in tennis history and the enduring impact of his legacy, the Arthur Ashe Legacy Project at UCLA is hosting a reception on February 27th celebrating the 50thanniversary of Ashe’s Wimbledon championship and paying tribute to his extraordinary contributions to the world. The reception will be followed by a screening and panel discussion of the film, “Citizen Ashe,” a biography that highlights his life and enduring influence. The event begins at 6:00 p.m., at the UCLA Northwest Auditorium. Attendance is complimentary, but registration is required. Please register here.
A program of the UCLA Ralph Bunche Center, the Arthur Ashe Legacy Project (AALP) was founded by Professor Emeritus Patricia Turner in 2017. Over the years AALP has offered funding and academic development opportunities for students and conducted an international oral history project that highlights the impact of Arthur Ashe. Robert Cooper, a professor of education in the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies, was recently appointed as the Faculty Director for AALP. In this new role, Professor Cooper will work to expand the scope of the Arthur Ashe Legacy Project and its mission to honor the tennis and humanitarian great’s legacy with substantive actions for today’s students and scholars.
We talk briefly with Professor Cooper here about the Arthur Ashe Celebration and the purpose and work of the Arthur Ashe Project:
So, tell us briefly about the event honoring Arthur Ashe that is happening later this month.
Robert Cooper: This is part of our year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary of Arthur Ashe’s historic-making victory over tennis great Jimmy Connors in the 1975 Wimbledon Tennis Championship. Ashe was the first and only African American male in the 150-year history of Wimbledon to win the men’s single title. So, this is a monumental celebration. It’s an opportunity for us to highlight and explore his legacy — his humanitarian work, his commitment to issues of social justice, equity, to racial justice, to healthcare.
You were recently named faculty director for the Arthur Ashe Legacy Project. Why did you take the role?
Cooper: When I was asked to take this role on, you know, it’s funny, I told Dean Turner, ‘I don’t know a lot about tennis, I don’t know if I’m the right person for this.’ And she said, ‘but this isn’t about tennis. This is much larger than that. This is about his life and his legacy and his commitment to issues of social justice and his commitment to the broader issues of equity and equality.’ I said, ‘Then, I’m the right person! That is the heart of my scholarship. These are the type of issues that I think are important for us to share with our young people.
What do you want people to know about Arthur Ashe, why is it important for us at UCLA to continue his legacy?
Cooper: The primary thing for people to know about Arthur Ashe is that he used his platform in athletics for the social betterment of people. There is a great quote about Arthur and it says something like, “Arthur is committed to his race…the human race.” I think that’s the message of Arthur Ashe. What can we do to improve the life of all people? And that’s why we call him a global citizen, a citizen of the world. His outlook was about how do I make humanity better? How do I find the humanity that connects us?
One thing that concerns me is that I think Arthur’s legacy has gotten lost, particularly for young people. Education is a tool, a tool of empowerment, and it ought to empower us to do what I would argue is in the best interest of the greater good. We need to help people understand that Arthur Ashe was a global citizen, and we need to help young people at UCLA see their responsibility and opportunity to impact the greater society.
In addition to this year’s events celebrating his accomplishments, how does the Arthur Ashe Legacy Project do that?
Cooper: Over the years, AALP has supported ongoing research about Arthur Ashe, and provided scholarships and academic support to UCLA students. And a key part of our work has been an oral history project exploring and documenting his life.
Building on that, we are working to expand the oral history project and foster a greater awareness of Ashe’s impact as a global citizen. In March, we are going to South Africa where we will meet with and interview people who knew and worked with Ashe. Ashe spent a lot of time with Nelson Mandela in South Africa, and so we’re also going to go to the Nelson Mandela Museum and go through the archives and try to understand, from their perspective, what he meant to the people of South Africa and how his work impacted them.
The other thing that I think is important is to focus on how we disseminate the work. As a public facing institution, we have a responsibility, an opportunity, to share what we know and learn. We’re trying to think about how we get these lessons we have learned from the oral history project into the hands of the next generation. We are working to develop a curriculum and lessons that can be shared from kindergarten through college. We also going to be designing courses, and I hope to be able to teach a course on Arthur Ashe. We want to use our scholarship to engage new and young scholars.
What’s next?
Cooper: We are headed to South Africa in March to conduct research for a new initiative: The Youth Global Leadership Academy at UCLA. The program is designed to provide aspiring global youth leaders with a broad perspective of global citizenship and leadership. The purpose is to develop a cadre of youth leaders around the globe who understand and value civic leadership, civic responsibility, and civic engagement. The intent is to build a stronger global community by investing in a well-informed and engaged cadre of global youth leaders. While in Zambia and Johannesburg, places where Arthur had an impact, we are also going to be talking with young people there who are part of youth organizations, much like the National Junior Tennis Association here in the states. The NJTLA was co-founded by Ashe along with another UCLA alumni, Charlie Pasarell. The organization is still in existence, with close to 200 associations, serving about 250,000 young people. We’re going to be partnering with them to engage in research, to think about a curriculum that can be used to highlight the life and legacy of Arthur Ashe and keep his life and legacy alive within the organization.
It is our goal to bring youth from around the globe together here at UCLA to learn and network in the summer of 2026.