Every sports movie is based on an inspirational story of a person or a team overcoming some hurdle to achieve greatness. Glory Road follows the 1966 Texas Western Basketball team. This team showed the world in 1966 that basketball talent is not based on race. The feat that they achieved forever changed the game of basketball and the sports world. The movie, Glory Road, made in 2006, depicts the concepts of emotional abuse, curfew, and stereotype.
The 1960’s were a time of change that slowed the harsh abuse of racism against African-Americans. The basketball season that Texas Western won the national championship was just two to three years after Martin Luther King Jr.’s march on Washington, D.C. African-Americans pushed for change in a constant flow of racism and segregation. Still, a majority of the United States population did not want to accept the introduction of different races in their culture. The Texas Western basketball team received a substantial amount of emotional abuse because of the fact that they featured seven African-American players. When the country observed the success of the mostly black team, the team was harassed with boo’s and racial slurs. The abuse hit its peak when the hotel was vandalized with demeaning racial slurs splattered on the wall in red paint. The team was briefly divided because the emotional abuse finally broke the team. Instead of letting the situation break the team, the players used the constant abuse to strengthen their will to win. This example of overcoming prejudice and intolerance and then succeeding gave hope to other athletes around the world.
One of the most important keys to be a successful athlete, Don Haskins said in the movie, is to have discipline. A major ru...
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...by the Texas Western Men’s Basketball Team of 1966 in emotional abuse, curfew, and stereotypes. The African-American players on the team elicited much harassment and racism. The emotional abuse that the team received threatened to break the team, but the team responded by triumph in the 1966 NCAA Division I National Championship. Then, the concept of curfew was not an important one within the Texas Western Basketball players’ priorities in the beginning of the season. The distraction of partying and girlfriends kept the men up all night and led to them being punished by their coach. In recruiting, Coach Don Haskins overlooked the stereotypes surrounding African-American basketball players and started the first all-black national championship team. This inspirational story is one that explains the reason for the racial equality in the sport of basketball today.
Prior to 1966 African Americans were not allowed to play basketball with Caucasians. That all changed when six African American men, led by coach Don Haskins of Texas Western College, played in the March, 1966 NCAA championship and won. I believe that Don Haskins created significant change for African Americans and college basketball.
One of the major stands that were made during a black athlete’s tenure during his or her sport were their statements on racism. Racism in America was an ongoing situation in the 1900’s that seemed to have no resolve before black athletes took a stand. One prime example can be Jackie Robinson who became the first African-American athlete to play baseball in the modern era. Jackie grew up in one of the most racist towns in Pasadena, California and came from a poor family as his parents were sharecroppers and...
In the 1950s, America was viewed as one the strongest nations in the World. America established itself as a strong military super power and dominate country in World War II. The effects of World War II carried over in the 1950s, America saw a lot of economic growth, there was an increase in the amount of people who moved to the suburbs, and the baby boom which came about because of the millions of soldiers returning home from military services. Even though this seemed like a happy time, there was still a thick tension in America. This tension was between African-Americans and white Americans. In 1865, the thirteenth amendment was passed which abolished slavery. Even though this occurred, white people still felt that African-American were inferior to them so they treated them accordingly. Society functioned around this principle and as a result, segregation was created. Some of the things that arose from segregation were that blacks were not allowed in certain places, they received an education in old schools that taught from raggedy or out dated textbooks, and they had to move to the back of the bus when a white person needed a seat or wanted a seat in the front. This lead to social reform and a civil rights movement. “There was a feeling of unfulfilled ambitions and expectations among many blacks” (Marble 37). African-Americans wanted an end to segregation and wanted equal rights, equal treatment, and equal opportunities. One of the steps they made into doing this was breaking color barriers. One area of the color barrier in America that African-Americans were starting to break down was the one placed on football. African-American football players in the 1950s had to endure a strong amount of racial discrimination, however their ...
Racial Inequities in NCAA Division I College Sports." Graduate School of Education Center (2013). University of Pennsylvania. Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education, 2013. Web.
In an Article about sports and society, Bridget Lockyer discusses the 1950’s onwards, as being a pivotal moment for black Americans. As they were increasingly active in speaking out about the injustice of American society; the segregation of black and white; the discrimination black Americans faced in employment and housing; the disenfranchisement of black people on electoral registers and the widespread violence and prejudice they were forced to endure, (Lockyer, 2009). Before marchers, bus riding freedom riders, boycotters and other protesters began their crusade for freedom, the Jim Crow laws prevented blacks and whites from integrati...
The adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the adage of the The African American quest for equity in sports. American sports: From the age of folk games to the age of televised sports (5th ed.). (pp. 62-63). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid afores Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Spalding, Albert G. (n.d.).
Glory Road is a movie based on a true story in El Paso, Texas around 1966 when Coach Don Haskins broke down the color barrier by bringing seven African American players to play for the Texas Western College basketball team. He went to the college summer league in Kansas City, Kansas to check out players and try to recruit them to come to Texas Western on a full scholarship. The basketball team learned early on about Coach Don Haskins expectations, his ambition, punishments and authority. Out of all the games they played, the team lost one game. While on the road the entire team endured ridicule because of racism and racist remarks. Coach Don was a great motivator and expressed to the team that your dignity is inside you and no one can
Glory Road is a 2006 sports film directed by James Gartner starring Josh Lucas and Derek Luke. The film portrays the story of how Don Haskins had the first all black starting lineup in the NCAA and led Texas Western to a national championship. Along the way, the players and Coach Haskins face great adversity throughout the season because of their all black starting lineup. As the season progresses, the threats continuously grow worse and eventually are directed towards the family of Coach Haskins. This problem continues to grow due to the fact that Texas Western’s team gains national recognition not only for being the first with an all black starting lineup, but for making i through the regular season with only a single loss As the movie progress the audience sees one of the players get beaten because of his race. Another scene shows a hotel room that has been completely trashed because it was where the black athletes were staying. I will prove that that this scene where the hotel room is trashed is racist towards the black athletes.
“The land of the free and home of the brave,” the infamous line from America’s national anthem, Star-Spangled Banner, but how much did this ring truth for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Era? On October 16, 1968, gold medalist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos challenged “the false vision of what it meant to be black in America.” (Pg. 108, John Carlos story) Although John Carlos and Tommie Smith ridiculed and ostracized because of their defiant act, which respectfully recognized as an iconic, powerful image labeled as the “black power salute” in the summer Olympics of 1968 in Mexico City. Carlos and Smith used the Olympics’ medal ceremony stage to challenge and bring recognition to the racism within sports and the United States in a silent gesture. This significant moment of their act of bravery, courage and willingness to sacrifice their sport careers and life to call attention to the segregation, racism and white supremacy back home for those who did not have a platform. “Smith and Carlos opened a unique symbolic space for dialogue and debate about these issues.” (Pg. 26, Douglas Hartmann) Without saying a single word, they captured the nation’s attention.
Bill Russell grew up in an extremely racist time in America in an extremely racist state. Born in Louisiana and raised both there and in Oakland, California; Russell and his family battled the every day hardships that most black people faced at that time. But Russell always had a set of morals and guidelines that he led his life by, many of which he learned from his father, who he says was his hero and biggest role model. These morals revolved around independence and a very classic “ I will not allow anyone to impose their will on me.” (Page 56, paragraph 1) These morals followed and shaped him in his playing and coaching career.
Wiggins, David Kenneth, and Patrick B. Miller. 2003. The unlevel playing field: a documentary history of the African American experience in sport. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
Miller, Patrick B. Wiggins, David K. Sport and the color line: Black athletes and Race relations in Twentieth-century America. 2004. The Journal of Southern History 70 (4) (Nov 2004): 990.
The world has lived through generations of racism and racial profiling. After the days of Martin Luther King Jr. and the Black Civil Rights Movement, the American people thought they had passed the days of hatred and discrimination. Although Americans think that they live in a non-racist society, minorities today still live in the chains of oppression and prejudice through sports, schools, and social media. Jackie Robinson was a prominent figure in American history as he broke the color line, and was the first black athlete to play in a white league. Americans believed this would stop racism in the future and integrate all sports, but racism has planted its roots in sports ever since 1947.
The scholars expounds that Black athletes were commodities on the playing field to help win games and bring in revenue to their respected schools. However, the schools were just as eager and willing to leave their Black players behind and dishonoring the player as a part of the team. Therefore, not compromising the team’s winning and bring in profits for the school. Sadly, Black athletes at predominately White institutions (PWIs) who believed that they were bettering the live of themselves and their families members by going to college and playing collegiate sports to increase their post secondary careers. However, these athletes were only “show ponies” for their schools. Unfortunately, Black athletes had allegiance to their school; however, the school turned their backs on the athletes to protect the profit and notoriety of the school and the programs. Money and respect from White fans and spectators were more important to the PWIs than standing up for the respect of their Black players. Racial bigotry in sports was rampant and it was only going to get worse.
How did sports "both reflect and influence" North Carolinian society from the late nineteenth century to the 1970s? During this era, athletics in college, basketball in particular, proved that many native-born citizens became Americans through participation in sports in which their accomplishments merited praise. Sports effectuated life lessons learned as well as cultural values, including teamwork and sportsmanship. Race and gender played an enormous role in the history of sports. In one historical moment from Pamela Grundy's book Learning to Win: Sports, Education, and Social Change in Twentieth-Century North Carolina, she writes about men's college athletics between 1880 and 1901.