Date:
Tuesday, June 26, 2012 - 6:30pm
Location:
The Brecht Forum, 451 West Street, New York, NY 10014
The Black Athlete
From Jack Johnson to Metta World Peace
Theresa Runstedtler in conversation with David J. Leonard Moderated by Marc Lamont Hill
Sports are central to American public life in the twenty-first century – evidenced by the power and profitability of ESPN, the congressional hearings about steroids, and the ubiquity of sports programming in the mainstream media. Of course, this is nothing new. From Jack Johnson to Jackie Robinson, and from the 1968 Olympic protest to the 2004 Palace Brawl in Indianapolis, sports have always been more than just a game. Drawing from their recently published books – Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner: Boxing in the Shadow of the Global Color Line and After Artest: The NBA and the Assault on Blackness – Runstedtler and Leonard will explore the history of black athletes, reflecting on how race and racism have shaped and continue to define American sports culture.
