Racial Struggle In The Film, The Express, Glory Road

Since the early 2000’s there have been several films depicting racial struggles in sports films that often center around young black athletes. The films Remember the Titans, The Express, Glory Road and 42 all have main characters whose actions revolve around a sport and are all based on true stories. Additionally, in each of these movies there is a form of racism, or the plot of the movie is structured on race. For example, the film Glory Road is about Don Haskins, Texas Western’s basketball coach in the 1960’s, leading the first all black starting lineup to the NCAA basketball championship . The film shows how people were so discriminating of the black athletes and how acts of racism are committed. In the film, threats are sent to Coach Haskins’ family

members, the team’s rooms are raided and in addition one of the athletes is beaten because of his race. The second film I will talk about is Remember the Titans which takes place in Virginia during the early 1970’s around the time of racial integration. This film takes an in depth look at a T.C. Williams High School football program as the formerly all white school begins to merge with blacks. Similarly, this move is completely centered around football and overcoming racial barriers.

While the football team struggles to merge, so does the community. This film shows how Coach Herman Boone was able to look past race and help not only the school but also the entire community. The third film I will discuss is titled The Express. This movie is centered around Ernie Davis who was the first black athlete to win college football’s greatest award, the Heisman Trophy. In the film, Erine faces great difficulty from many people because of his skin color. In fact, Ernie and his teammates are cheated during the national championship game due to his race and the movie also shows where hotels would not let him inside along with the team. On top of that, there are instances in the movie where many people come to the Syracuse Head Coach and insist that Ernie not be allowed to play due to fear of racial riots. The movie 42 greatly expresses the racism faced by Jackie Robinson as he became the first black baseball athlete to play in the Major League of Baseball (MLB). Not only was he the first to play, he was the first to win the Rookie of the Year award, a Most Valuable Player award and be inducted into the Hall of

Fame. The movie shows how Robinson faced a racist culture but was able to stand up to it, whether it was refusal at restaurants, hotels, or gas stations Robinson found a way to fight through the racist acts and come out of it all victorious.