Gregory J. Kaliss
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604737516
- eISBN:
- 9781604737523
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604737516.003.0009
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sport and Leisure
This chapter discusses Wilt Chamberlain’s racial politics, which hounded his image as a college basketball player. Chamberlain’s enlistment in the University of Kansas at Lawrence sparked hope for ...
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This chapter discusses Wilt Chamberlain’s racial politics, which hounded his image as a college basketball player. Chamberlain’s enlistment in the University of Kansas at Lawrence sparked hope for the black community across the U.S., which expected him to show the university that segregation of blacks and whites is morally and ethically wrong as well as showing that blacks are not inferior to whites through basketball excellence. It notes that his decision to leave the university for the Harlem Globetrotters cast him in a different light in his own school, where he was viewed as a money-grabbing opportunist. Additionally, Chamberlain’s neutrality stance over the issue of the civil rights movement also alienated him from his fellow black Americans, angry and frustrated at his inaction in the civil rights cause.Less
This chapter discusses Wilt Chamberlain’s racial politics, which hounded his image as a college basketball player. Chamberlain’s enlistment in the University of Kansas at Lawrence sparked hope for the black community across the U.S., which expected him to show the university that segregation of blacks and whites is morally and ethically wrong as well as showing that blacks are not inferior to whites through basketball excellence. It notes that his decision to leave the university for the Harlem Globetrotters cast him in a different light in his own school, where he was viewed as a money-grabbing opportunist. Additionally, Chamberlain’s neutrality stance over the issue of the civil rights movement also alienated him from his fellow black Americans, angry and frustrated at his inaction in the civil rights cause.
