Fine Art Friday goes to the movies with Earl Monroe’s “Black Magic.”
I don’t know if any of you caught it, but back in the spring ESPN aired a four hour documentary called “Black Magic.” Produced by none other than Earl “Black Jesus” Monroe, the film looks at the civil rights era through the lens of basketball, in particular basketball players at all black colleges in The South. This was Earl Monroe’s story. But it was also the story of many others, like our own Al Attles who was a graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, a historically black college in Greensboro (Monroe attended Winstom-Salem State University). To promote the film, Attles and Monroe did a press tour and spoke at some screenings at colleges. Great beards think alike.
Like many flashbacks to that time in The South, watching clips from this film does get you thinking about how much things have changed, and how Obama can be seen as a symbol of those changes. To think that not that long ago, the man now running for president of this country would have had to play in a different gymnasium, not to mention go to different lunch counters, bathrooms, and water fountains if he had lived Down South. Now, we’re looking at integrating The White House which, after watching this movie, looks a whole lot easier than integrating the “Rebel Coliseum” at Ole Miss.
M. Meschery
Great find. I had no idea about the Black Magic doc. I’ll have to track it down and check it out.
I’ve always had big respect for Earl the Pearl. He and Walt Frazier have always been among my favorite Knicks.
Not just for their play, but because of my own origins and vintage too:
http://www.fearthebeard.org/2007/05/31/from-east-coast-funk/
Comment by Gd. | 09.22.2008 | 2:57 pm