Virtual Our Stories Athletes in Action: A Sports History of Black Activism in Arizona VIRTUAL

Dr. Matthew Whitaker Saturday, February 20, 10:30am, virtual program Registration: https://chandlerlibrary.libcal.com/event/7478463 Join us online for the next Our Stories presentation, as Dr. Matthew Whitaker explores how Arizona's athletes have used their platform to seek and secure social, economic, and political justice for people of African descent. This talk coordinates with the exhibition Bigger than Boxing: Zora Folley and the 1967 Heavyweight Title on view at the Chandler Museum through August 29, 2021. Sports writer, Steve Wulf, writes "the history of sports protests goes deep. Back, way back, on Jan. 13, 532 A.D., at the chariot races in Constantinople, rival drivers from the Blues and Greens teams asked the emperor Justinian to pardon two of their followers who had been condemned to die. His refusal led to the Nika Revolt, six weeks of rioting that resulted in the deaths of 30,000 people. So taking a knee during the national anthem isn’t exactly unprecedented, or nearly as calamitous. Athletes in modern times have often been moved to protest conditions, to demonstrate that they are citizens of conscience by speaking truth to power."