| dc.description.abstract | Background: I conducted a study of the intersection of race and sport in the city of Memphis. I have always been an avid basketball fan, and growing up in Memphis, I cheered on our collegiate team, the Memphis Tigers, and our NBA team, the Memphis Grizzlies. When considering a topic for my honors project, I knew that I wanted to focus on basketball, and I thought it would be interesting to study the history of basketball in the city of Memphis because of the many basketball legends that come from our city. However, when I started thinking about basketball in Memphis, I realized that the value of the sport goes deeper than just the court. Memphis as a dark, challenging history. The city has had to overcome the problem of racial adversity throughout its past and is something that Memphis is still working to address today. In the midst of all the negativity throughout the past, basketball has always been present in the city of Memphis. I became curious to research how race and the sport of basketball coincided with one another throughout time in Memphis, and if sports have played a small part in aiding to unite the city. Methods: I worked to answer the question, "How do Memphis athletics have the power to aid in overcoming racial divides?" I created a multimedia documentary website that is housing the research I conducted. To begin, I wrote a 30-source annotated bibliography and researched topics ranging from "the history of Memphis athletics" all the way to "how to create a website." I used this information to create the different sections on my website. The website includes a blog post section, docuseries video section, and an interview section. These three sections all helped me to answer my key question. Results: Through my research, I discovered that people do believe that sports have the power to aid in uniting the city of Memphis. This statement was heavily concluded through interviews. All interviewees were asked to speak of their perception of the intersection of race and sports from their personal athletic careers in Memphis, and their answers all differed based on their various backgrounds. I found that people believe sports have the power to aid in uniting the city as a result of passionate fandom, civic pride, and community impact. Through writing blog posts and creating docuseries videos, I have found that awareness is a key factor in mending racial divides. Both the NBA and the Grizzlies have made it a priority to use their platforms to advocate for social justice and their advocacy starts with awareness. Conclusion: Sports can be a positive area of change; however, sports do not have the ability to overcome racial adversity. I definitely believe that they can play a part in helping to aid communities to unite. Sports bring people of all backgrounds and races together to cheer on the same team. Through researching how sports, particularly basektball, have used athletic platforms to advocate for social justice, I realized that the conversation regarding social change becomes easier. | |
