Glory Road

The movie is about the University of Texas Western in 1965-66 and their basketball team. Coach Haskins had trouble recruiting the good white players around the nation because Texas Western was not known for their basketball and the players did not think they would do very well in their season so they chose all schools to attend. Coach Haskins decided to do something crazy in that time and he recruited black players. The school was made up of less than 1% black people. Some teams would have one or two black players but Texas Western had seven players. With being in the south and having black players on the court, many people did not like this. The black players were harassed by being called the “N” word and their rooms being broken into at hotels they stay and having their belongings destroyed. Also when they go to a restaurant, one of the players goes to use the restroom and then 3 white males begin to beat him up badly showing their disliking of the black players. While they are at the games, when they enter the court many of the fans pour drinks, throw food, and say racial terms to them. With all these distractions, they proceed to have a 27-1 record. They played in the National Championship game against the number one ranked Kentucky team. Coach Haskins decided to end all this racism about black players not being able to play with white players. He started 5 black players and had 2 black subs. He did not play one white player in that game. They won that game and proved to the world that they should be allowed to play the game and they can play with white people and win. He made a statement to the world that night and changed history for ever. I chose Glory Road because it was a changing moment in history where the world has become different because of one team standing up to the entire nation.

This relates to class in Zinn’s chapter 1 where the English came to America, a place where they were minority. They came from a place where they were not the minority and then had to change their ways to be able to get along with the Native Americans. As they got more comfortable things began to change. Like in the movie, the black players came from places where there were many more black people but then went to Texas Western and became a minority in the city of El Paso but the white players became minorities on the basketball team because the black players played most of them time.

I think this was one of the most important times in the history of racial terms. It changed how people looked at black people. The Texas Western Minors basketball team showed that they can and should be allowed to play with white players. They ended all talk about how black people should not participate in the same things white people participate in. They changed the way the world looked at things.