This is how athletes used their voices to call for social change

citizen ashe athlete activism origseriesfilms pkh_00002513.png

This is how athletes used their voices to call for social change

CNN Films

For generations, athletes -- from Muhammad Ali to Arthur Ashe and LeBron James -- have used their voices to call for social change. CNN's Andy Scholes reports.

02:49 - Source: CNN

Citizen Ashe 12 videos

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This is how athletes used their voices to call for social change

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Ashe smiles as he holds the Wimbledon trophy after his upset win over Jimmy Connors in the 1975 final. During his groundbreaking career, Ashe won three grand slams.

The radical strategy that led to a historic first in sports

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Ashe prepares to return a shot during the Davis Cup in Cleveland, Ohio on August 19, 1968. (AP Photo/Julian C. Wilson)

Arthur Ashe: 'If you're very confident, you can do anything'

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23 arthur ashe

Skinny and gangly': This No.1 tennis star had an unusual approach

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Tennis star was banned from playing during South Africa's apartheid

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American tennis player John McEnroe disputes the umpire's call during a match at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships in 1980.

Tennis star says was envious of McEnroe going off on the court

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Ashe addresses the World Health Organization at the UN in New York during a meeting on World AIDS Day on December 1 1992. Ashe's activism grew to include the AIDS crisis after revealing he contracted the disease through a blood transfusion.

Jeanne Ashe describes learning her husband had AIDs

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Tennis great explains the stakes before his Wimbledon win

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Harry Edwards: Here's what Ashe taught me about activism

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Watch the trailer for 'Citizen Ashe'

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FILE - In this April 8, 1992 file photo, former tennis star Arthur Ashe gives a news conference in New York to announce he has AIDS. Ashe, who was the first black man to win one of tennis' Grand Slam tournaments, said he contracted the HIV virus through a blood transfusion during a 1983 heart operation and learned of his infection in 1988. (AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler)

Arthur Ashe 'a man who was bigger than tennis'

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Arthur Ashe excelled on faster courts due to his serve and volley style seen here in action at Wimbledon in 1968.

Celebrating the life of Arthur Ashe

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