GBH Openvault
Say Brother; Black Athlete, The; Muhammad Ali and the Vietnam War
Part of Say Brother.
06/19/1969
In this clip Muhammad Ali discusses his religious and conscientious objections to participating in the Vietnam War. Overall the program explores the cliche, "Sports have been good to the Black man" by asking, "Has the Black man been good to sports?" With interviews with major sports figures of track, boxing, tennis, baseball, basketball, and football, the program explores the limitations of athleticism in achieving recognition and equality for African Americans. Program interviews, conducted on site, include: Frank Robinson (baseball), Arthur Ashe (tennis), Tom Sanders (basketball), Muhammad Ali (boxing), Ken Hudson (referee), Jim Brown (football), Bill Russell (coach), and Tommie Smith (track). Jim Spruill's introduction reviews athleticism before slavery was abolished, compares the manager-fighter relationship to the master-slave relationship, and talks about the educated athlete. Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) discusses his objections to the Vietnam War. Produced by Ray Richardson. Directed by Stan Lathan.
License Clip
- Series
- Say Brother
- Program
- Black Athlete, The
- Program Number
35
- Title
Muhammad Ali and the Vietnam War
- Series Description
Say Brother is WGBH's longest running public affairs television program by, for and about African Americans, and is now known as Basic Black. Since its inception in 1968, Say Brother has featured the voices of both locally and nationally known African American artists, athletes, performers, politicians, professionals, and writers including: Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Thomas Atkins, Amiri Baraka, Doris Bunte, Julian Bond, Stokely Carmichael, Louis Farrakhan, Nikki Giovanni, Odetta Gordon, Henry Hampton, Benjamin Hooks, Jesse Jackson, Hubie Jones, Mel King, Eartha Kitt, Elma Lewis, Haki Madhubuti, Wallace D. Muhammad, Charles Ogletree, Babatunde Olatunji, Byron Rushing, Owusu Sadaukai, and Sonia Sanchez. Series release date: 7/15/1968
- Program Description
Program explores the cliche, "Sports have been good to the Black man" by asking, "Has the Black man been good to sports?" With interviews with major sports figures of track, boxing, tennis, baseball, basketball, and football, the program explores the limitations of athleticism in achieving recognition and equality for African Americans. Program interviews, conducted on site, include: Frank Robinson (baseball), Arthur Ashe (tennis), Tom Sanders (basketball), Muhammad Ali (boxing), Ken Hudson (referee), Jim Brown (football), Bill Russell (coach), and Tommie Smith (track). Jim Spruill's introduction reviews athleticism before slavery was abolished, compares the manager-fighter relationship to the master-slave relationship, and talks about the educated athlete.
- Asset Type
Clip
- Media Type
Video
- Subjects
- Robinson, Frank, 1935-
- Hudson, Ken
- African American boxers
- Ali, Muhammad, 1942-
- Vietnam War, 1961-1975
- Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975
- Segregation
- James, Larry
- African Americans in mass media
- Sanders, Tom
- Russell, Bill, 1934-
- Ashe, Arthur
- Brown, Jim, 1936-
- African American athletes
- Civil rights
- Genres
- Magazine
- Topics
- Race and Ethnicity
- Creators
- Richardson, Ray (Producer)
- Lark, Tony (Associate Producer)
- Bright, Hazel V. (Associate Producer)
- Lathan, Stan (Director)
- Ferguson, Andrew (Associate Producer)
- Contributors
- Attar, Eli (Still Photography)
- Cabot, Ellen (Production Assistant)
- Ferguson, Andrew (Interviewer)
- Star, Black (Still Photography)
- Gomez, Jewelle (Production Assistant)
- Spruill, Jim (Host)
- Noble, Gil (Interviewer)
- Loerzel, David (Audio)
- Isen, Eric (Cameraman)
- Rogers, Steve (Video)
- Norton, Chas (Lighting)
- Lark, Tony (Cameraman)
- Publication Information
- WGBH Educational Foundation
- Citation
- Chicago: “Say Brother; Black Athlete, The; Muhammad Ali and the Vietnam War,” 06/19/1969, GBH Archives, accessed April 19, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_185B30ABB777474DAAD28BA5F3E15AE1.
- MLA: “Say Brother; Black Athlete, The; Muhammad Ali and the Vietnam War.” 06/19/1969. GBH Archives. Web. April 19, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_185B30ABB777474DAAD28BA5F3E15AE1>.
- APA: Say Brother; Black Athlete, The; Muhammad Ali and the Vietnam War. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_185B30ABB777474DAAD28BA5F3E15AE1