i. Introduction: For the people who have not seen the movie, Remember the Titans, just know throughout the movie there is communication between the coach and the football team and between just the team itself. Not all the communication is verbal but also non-verbal and you can see how non-verbal communication can hurt a team. When black and white football players are put on one team and ask to put aside their racial differences to win a state championship a lot of tension starts to build up (Carter, 2009). The stress levels where high for the team players with having to learn how to trust each other when they are dealing with an interracial team plus coming from different schools. The stress was also at an all-time high because the summer before that school year of 1971, a white on black crime occurred which lessen the trust in each team player. ii. …show more content…
Dealing with Racism: In the 1970’s schools were still getting used to being interracial. Having white and blacks together in one place still didn’t fit well with students or teachers. Many fights between students and even teachers vs students (Marker, 1979). Even though times were changes teenagers still faced oppression from people who felt they still deserved their privileges. Players started to be assertive with each other basically only trying to tolerate just enough to get them through games and practice. Their coach, Boone, whose African-American makes the football team come together to get familiar with each other to lessen the uncalled for tension. He lets his team know that he is there so they can win hoping that winning games would bring them closer together and end the prejudice thoughts among the team. Which later on down the line the coach becomes more like a father figure to some players and their respect for him as a coach but also as a man rises. iii. Being a
In the early 1950's, racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America. Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.
Coach Boone’s coaching method was intense and authoritarian like. There are many ways of coaching a sporting team or sportsman, but Coach Boone’s motto was undeniably, ‘This is the line. Say goodbye to it now because we aren’t just crossing the line. We going far away from it.’ He pushed his players to both their physical and mental breaking point that even his assistant coach questioned his ways. There was a point in the movie that showed this pretty well and
“A negro baby had only half the chance of completing high school and only a third of the chance to complete college as a white baby that was born at the same time and place” (Hubert). Kids were treated differently by color in schools in the 1960’s; Brown vs. Education and Little Rock Nine are two examples. There are many more examples of how kids were treated in the 1960’s but these are the most known and they show how people were treated. In the North most public schools were not segregated and in the South they were very segregated, very racist, and had segregated public schools. People were rioting and fighting for the freedom that America had promised them. Black parents wanted their kids to go to the white schools and get a great
The 1970s was the era for American African civil rights movements. In Virginia, located in the south-center of the United States, the population were still very conservative. There’s a high school football team called the “Titans” with only white players. Yet, the school followed the racial integration policy which accepted many black students. This caused the Titan team to become a blended team. In addition, the school also demoted the already extremely successful white Coach Yoast and let a black man Boone to be the head coach because of the policy. Many white students and their parents protested and threatened they are going to quit. The residents were also are the same as these students, as they had suspicious and had doubts. Black man in a superior position towards a white man is a very dissonant combination, and the team players despised each other. Even the school didn’t support Coach Boone and claimed he will be replaced as soon as he loses one game. It’s not an easy job to train this team and trying to get them to co-operate, he is not only needing to hone the students’ playing skills but also the team morale and the contradiction between him and the assistant coach. The worst thing is the whole society resist this blended team. In this film, Coach Boone perfectly demonstrates the Five
As captain, Gerry Bertier led the Titans, he provoked change within his community. Molly is a leader, her leadership and quick thinking assists her. Daisy and Gracie follow her because she is a commendable leader. Before changing his perspective on African-Americans, Gerry was intolerant and bias towards Black Americans, “I don’t want to play with those Black Animals.” Gerry learnt to play with African Americans and respect them and understand that they are the same. But, Ray didn’t respect African Americans, unlike the rest of his team. “I want Ray off the team, Coach.” Gerry took Ray off the team as it was bringing the team down and he didn’t want a racist player on his team. Gerry changed the team, due to his leadership. White Americans began to follow Gerry, by getting to know fellow players who were African-American. “I was afraid of you, Julius. I only saw what I was afraid of.” Gerry was afraid of Julius, but by getting to know him, he understood why they weren't so different. “Attitude reflects Leadership”, this effort and attitude changed the opinion of majority of the white players due to Gerry’s Leadership.
Almost 70% of the school was white, and fitting into the culture was something I had trouble getting used to because of such an unwelcoming demeanor from the students. Joining extracurricular activities such as basketball helped me meet friends of different ethnic backgrounds who also had the same interests as me. In Kozels Article he begins to distinguish a correlation between schools in the 20th century to schools in the 19th century. “Schools that were already deeply segregated twenty-five or thirty years ago are no less segregated now” (Kozel 202). There has been no change at all in the public school system and this racism and unequal treatment in our society needs to be spoken up about. Segregating black and Hispanic children to less wealthier public schools who receive little or no funding is a major reason our nation’s crime rates has skyrocketed in the past twenty-five or thirty
Going back to condition number one, mutual interdependence, we will look more in-depth at how this was accomplished by the Titans. Referring back to Aronson (2008), we will compare the situations in both Aronson’s study and the movie Remember the Titans. One major problem Aronson saw is that the environment in the elementary school was a competition against each other. While football is a competitive sport, the goal is not to be competitive against your own teammates. In the beginning of the movie, there was competition between each other, probably to show dominance and to show that the old players would not willingly give up their spots on the team that they had acquired last year. The best example of how this perception changed, is when Alan Bosley, one of the white players, gave up his spot during the game, to Petey Jones, one of the black football players, because Alan knew Petey could play better against the other team than Alan could. A major change from when Alan was taken out of the first football game, causing an uproar in the crowd. Aronson also saw the need for each team member to have a piece of the puzzle to pass the test. Similarly, each player had a position to play and the games could not be won without the team working together by playing their best in their assigned position. During camp, each race would play individualized. A white player would not block correctly for a
After the head coach is replaced and moved to assistant coach, tension is increased between the black and white football players. It is the summer before their season, so their first interaction with each other is going to summer football camp. Right away, the new head coach, Herman Boone shows that he is not there to discriminate or tolerate discrimination. He has the boys desegregate the buses and their living quarters. This is where two main characters, Gerry Bertier and Julius Campbell meet for the first time. Racial slurs and punches are exchanged between them and the entire team. It is evident that there will not be an easy transition to working together as a team. Each race
America in the 1960’s had a problem with segregation. Anyone of color such as Hispanics, Blacks, or Asians were treated differently. These people were forced to go to an all color school, use different bathrooms, and different water fountains. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. did not like how Whites were not treating his people nicely.
In the mid-to-late 1950s African Americans were not allowed to be in the same breathing space as a white person, let alone the same school. Now today, any individual of any race can freely enter into any building and still receive quality teaching. A special thanks are for the nine brave history changers; Minnijean Brown, Terrance Roberts, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Watts. If it wasn’t for these students who endured the discomfort, students today will not be able to enjoy the comfortableness of being a high school student.
The 1960’s was a time of high racial tension and the idea that segregation of schools was needed to protect white children. Kozol writes about his experience as teacher in a ghetto school in Boston, Massachusetts, in Death at an Early Age. Physical abuse, verbal abuse, and horrendous learning environments, are few of the many problems with ghetto schools in the 1960’s. Imagine attending school to learn, and instead of a teacher encouraging and pushing students to be the very best they can be, they are called “animals” and told that their school is a “zoo.” Imagine enduring physical abuse at home, only to receive abuse at school as well. Imagine being students being punished because they cannot control their behavior or actions. Imagine entering
Based on a true story, the film follows the story of the 1971 T.C. Williams newly merged high school football team overthrown with a new coach, Herman Boone. Boone is immediately met with scrutiny from the former coach and white team members for his culture as an African-American. Boone takes the team on a camp as a bonding/training exercise in attempt to get the team up to
Even though they were very much adjusted to one another and got along so well when they got back home, nothing had changed. When they saw white teammates talking to black teammates everyone starred and no one understood. Coach Boon was not surprised to see how people were acting but he was shocked to find out that when the school gave him the head-coaching job it was because they had to and if he lost a game then he was fired. The people who hired him said that they didn’t even think that he would have made it out of camp.
In the 1960s, was a time where segregation, racism, police brutality, and the civil rights movement was big. Where whites and blacks were basically isolated from each other.I mean, blacks were no longer in slavery, but yet they were still being mistreated.For instance, while whites were drinking cleared and clean water, blacks were drinking contaminated water.when city transportation was provided the whites were allowed to sit in the front and the blacks were forced to sit in the back.while white kids were going to good schools and getting good educations, only few blacks went to schools and not even the good ones either.
I think that this movie shows one of the many historical events that took place in the U.S. during the 20th century that led to peace, as it is today, between blacks and whites. This football team kind of symbolizes the first step towards the future of blacks and whites in America- the country that we now call "the melting pot." Of course, change isn't all that easy, and it certainly wasn't for this football team. They started out hating each other, but slowly (with the help of their coaches), they came to respect and play as a team.