Black Magic: documentary about Civil Rights and basketball

David Pescovitz 4:06 pm Sun Mar 16, 2008

There's an interesting documentary on ESPN tonight titled Black Magic, about the struggle for civil rights as experienced by basketball players and coaches at Historical Black Colleges and Universities. Directed by Dan Klores, the four-hour program airs in two parts, concluding tomorrow (Monday) evening. Wynton Marsalis and Samuel L. Jackson narrate. From a New York Times article about the program:

“Black Magic” opens with the details of a secret basketball game played in Durham, N. C., in a locked gym with no fans to witness it. On a Sunday morning in 1944 the innovative African-American coach John McLendon (at right in photo) led his fast-breaking team from the North Carolina College for Negroes in a home game against an intramural squad from Duke University’s medical school.

It was illegal. It was dangerous.

And the black team won 88-44. “They never saw anyone run up and down the court like we did,” a McLendon player says.

Link to ESPN "Black Magic" page,

Link to NYT article

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