The Brecht Forum
June 26, 2012 @ 6:30 PM
The Black Athlete: From Jack Johnson to Metta World Peace
Theresa Runstedtler in conversation with David J. Leonard Moderated by Marc Lamont Hill
Sports are central to American public life in the twenty-first century – evidenced by the power and profitability of ESPN, the congressional hearings about steroids, and the ubiquity of sports programming in the mainstream media. Of course, this is nothing new. From Jack Johnson to Jackie Robinson, and from the 1968 Olympic protest to the 2004 Palace Brawl in Indianapolis, sports have always been more than just a game. Drawing from their recently published books – Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner: Boxing in the Shadow of the Global Color Line and After Artest: The NBA and the Assault on Blackness – Runstedtler and Leonard will explore the history of black athletes, reflecting on how race and racism have shaped and continue to define American sports culture.
A former professional dancer/actress from Canada, Theresa Runstedtler chose to shift her passion for popular culture from the studio and stage to the classroom. She graduated with a PhD in African American Studies and History from Yale University in 2007, and she is now an Assistant Professor of American studies at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). For the 2011-2012 academic year, she will be a Mellon postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
David J. Leonard is associate professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. With a B.A. in Black studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master's and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, he has dedicated his career to interdisciplinary scholarship, transformative teaching, and research that underscores the continued significance of race within popular culture, the structures of politics, and society at large.
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill is one of the leading hip-hop generation intellectuals in the country. His work, which covers topics such as culture, politics, and education, has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, books, and anthologies. Dr. Hill has lectured widely and provides regular commentary for media outlets like NPR, Washington Post, Essence Magazine, and the New York Times. He is the host of the nationally syndicated television show Our World With Black Enterprise, which airs Sunday mornings on TV One and broadcast markets around the country. He also provides regular commentary for CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel, where he was a political contributor and regular guest on The O’Reilly Factor. An award-winning writer, Dr. Hill is a columnist and editor-at-large for the Philadelphia Daily News.
A former professional dancer/actress from Canada, Theresa Runstedtler chose to shift her passion for popular culture from the studio and stage to the classroom. She graduated with a PhD in African American Studies and History from Yale University in 2007, and she is now an Assistant Professor of American studies at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). For the 2011-2012 academic year, she will be a Mellon postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
David J. Leonard is associate professor in the Department of Critical Culture, Gender, and Race Studies at Washington State University, Pullman. With a B.A. in Black studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a master's and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, he has dedicated his career to interdisciplinary scholarship, transformative teaching, and research that underscores the continued significance of race within popular culture, the structures of politics, and society at large.
Dr. Marc Lamont Hill is one of the leading hip-hop generation intellectuals in the country. His work, which covers topics such as culture, politics, and education, has appeared in numerous journals, magazines, books, and anthologies. Dr. Hill has lectured widely and provides regular commentary for media outlets like NPR, Washington Post, Essence Magazine, and the New York Times. He is the host of the nationally syndicated television show Our World With Black Enterprise, which airs Sunday mornings on TV One and broadcast markets around the country. He also provides regular commentary for CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel, where he was a political contributor and regular guest on The O’Reilly Factor. An award-winning writer, Dr. Hill is a columnist and editor-at-large for the Philadelphia Daily News.
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