Black Magic: documentary about Civil Rights and basketball
There's an interesting documentary on ESPN tonight titled Black Magic, about the struggle for civil rights as experienced by basketball players and coaches at Historical Black Colleges and Universities. Directed by Dan Klores, the four-hour program airs in two parts, concluding tomorrow (Monday) evening. Wynton Marsalis and Samuel L. Jackson narrate. From a New York Times article about the program:
Link to ESPN "Black Magic" page, Link to NYT article“Black Magic” opens with the details of a secret basketball game played in Durham, N. C., in a locked gym with no fans to witness it. On a Sunday morning in 1944 the innovative African-American coach John McLendon (at right in photo) led his fast-breaking team from the North Carolina College for Negroes in a home game against an intramural squad from Duke University’s medical school.
It was illegal. It was dangerous.
And the black team won 88-44. “They never saw anyone run up and down the court like we did,” a McLendon player says.
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I know that this isn't really important, but...nice shorts. If current athletes wore shorts like those, it would open up a whole new fan demographic.
I worked on the graphics for this and got to see some of the early cuts. I would definitely recommend it.
listen,
Im not racist, and I know by starting my comment with that statement - everyone will think I am...but seriously why is it that anytime African Americans want to celebrate their past it is fine, and I have to play nice and act like I feel bad for something that happened well before my parents were born. What about the struggles WHITE athletes endure nowadays, what about the fact that I lost a scholarship to a less qualified kid because he was black......what about that>>? I could be playin division I ball right now, but no, AA kicked in and the kid that got the scholarship got kicked off the team for drugs...wow good call
I am happy that these people overcame their adversity, but how long do we have to hold their hands before the African Americans realize they are already on top and dominate the sport, congratulations you are terrific athletes and I love the contributions you made to the sport
but it is doen now, you want to play fair, then play fair dont hold the actions of my ancestors over my head
@3 I'm so sad you are forced to have the burden of hating slavery, lynching and the horrors of the racial inequalities of our past like the rest of the the country. Your response looks incredibly idiotic so I'm not going to spend the time to shut down each and every one of your ridiculous complaints.
It's a story about our past and how blacks entered the world of basketball when it was illegal for them to..not about your supreme Jordan-esque jumping abilities being stopped by those of a darker skin color. It's also not about holding their hands or holding it over your head by constantly forcing you to watch tv programs with black people in them. Get some perspective..any perspective above the level of a 5 year-old during a tantrum.
@Shad: Listen, where in the text are any text does it say you're supposed to feel bad? Do you feel bad when you read about white people? Is there anyone else you "feel bad" for? Listen, you can keep your guilt to yourself, because nobody asked for it.
This is a part of history, just like anything else. It is highlighted because it is not necessarily common knowledge and this is the way to make it so: but discussing it.
Even if people who don't look like you dominate the sport, basketball wasn't always a game played professionally by a disproportionate number of African-Americans. That's why this documentary charts that evolution. If it was another ethnic group it would be interesting to chart as well, don't you think?
It's quite sad that you feel so threatened. If a white player had been chosen over you and kicked out for drugs, would you feel as victimized? What would you have found to focus your lament on?You're scapegoating can be felt even over the Internet.
Here's a thought if American History was taught correctly and the contributions for building this country by all the ethnicities was correctly presented maybe there would not be any need for AA or this conversation.