University of San Francisco, American, founded 1855 Search this
National Basketball Association, American, founded 1946 Search this
Boston Celtics, American, founded 1946 Search this
Major League Baseball, American, founded 1869 Search this
Boston Red Sox, American, founded 1901 Search this
Medium:
digital
Dimensions:
Duration: 3 hr., 7 min., 25 sec.
Total: 312.47 GB
Type:
video recordings
oral histories
digital media - born digital
Place collected:
Seattle, King County, Washington, United States, North and Central America
Place depicted:
Louisiana, United States, North and Central America
Oakland, Alameda County, California, United States, North and Central America
San Francisco, California, United States, North and Central America
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America
Date:
May 12, 2013
Description:
The oral history consists of eleven digital files: 2011.174.88.1a, 2011.174.88.1b, 2011.174.88.1c, 2011.174.88.1d, 2011.174.88.1e, 2011.174.88.1f, 2011.174.88.1g, 2011.174.88.1h, 2011.174.88.1i, 2011.174.88.1j, and 2011.174.88.1k.
Basketball player William "Bill" Russell remembers his childhood in Louisiana and Oakland, California, in the 1940s. After winning two Final Fours with the University of San Francisco, he won an Olympic gold medal and an NBA championship playing for the Boston Celtics, one of thirteen Russell would win, including eight in a row. Russell had a difficult relationship with the sports media in Boston, but a better one with his Celtics teammates. He defends the organization as progressive on racial matters (as opposed to the Red Sox) and describes a post-retirement reconciliation with Boston that resulted in considerable Red Sox support for his mentoring organization and a statue of him, erected in 2013.
Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
