Glory Road: 1966 Texas Western Basketball Team
Glory Road The movie Glory Road is based upon the 1966 Texas Western Basketball team. A team that is best known for helping to break the color barrier in college basketball. Led by Head Coach Don Haskins, the Miners were able to overcome tremendous discrimination shown to their players as well as Coach Haskins and his family. During this time African Americans experienced an incredibly large amount of racism and discrimination not only on the basketball court, but in everyday life. Glory Road portrays this racism and discrimination shown to the both the black players and Coach Haskins family. Determined to make a statement to not only the college basketball community but society as well, Haskins found a way to integrate his
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Though being talented many people felt blacks were incapable of staying mentally composed during the course of a game. They were inferior to white basketball players and therefore not given an opportunity. With the intention winning Coach Haskins recruited a number of very young and talented African Americans. He integrated them with the whites that were already on the team to make a very good basketball team. Throughout the course of the season the black Miners received an immense amount of discrimination. This included trash being dumped upon them when trying to enter the court on away games, and their hotel rooms being trashed and offensive words bring written on the walls. However the most abusive display of discrimination shown throughout the movie was Nevil Shed being jumped in the bathroom of a restaurant by a group of white men. Due to the success Texas Western had been having many whites would do whatever possible to disturb them even if this meant beating up a young man in the bathroom of a restaurant. This brutal display of racism was amazingly not considered outside the social norm at the time. White society did not wish to see a team led by African Americans be successful and were willing to do whatever type of means necessary to prevent it no matter how wrong and hateful they
Though being talented many people felt blacks were incapable of staying mentally composed during the course of a game. They were inferior to white basketball players and therefore not given an opportunity. With the intention winning Coach Haskins recruited a number of very young and talented African Americans. He integrated them with the whites that were already on the team to make a very good basketball team. Throughout the course of the season the black Miners received an immense amount of discrimination. This included trash being dumped upon them when trying to enter the court on away games, and their hotel rooms being trashed and offensive words bring written on the walls. However the most abusive display of discrimination shown throughout the movie was Nevil Shed being jumped in the bathroom of a restaurant by a group of white men. Due to the success Texas Western had been having many whites would do whatever possible to disturb them even if this meant beating up a young man in the bathroom of a restaurant. This brutal display of racism was amazingly not considered outside the social norm at the time. White society did not wish to see a team led by African Americans be successful and were willing to do whatever type of means necessary to prevent it no matter how wrong and hateful they