​Preserving the Interviews with African American Athletes in William Miles’ Black Champions (1986)

William Miles’ 1986 three-part TV program Black Champions is a classic of the sports documentary genre, partially for its interviews with African American athletes, and American heroes, including Althea Gibson, Curt Flood, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Wilma Rudolph. While the original series is, unfortunately, difficult to see, the Washington University Libraries have preserved the full-length versions of the 32 interviews from the series and made them accessible online, thanks to a grant from the National Historic Publications & Records Commission.

This event will discuss the process of conserving and digitizing these 34-year-old film reels, play a variety of clips from the interviews, and examine the documentary work of Miles and the importance of Black Champions.

Free and open to all, pre-registration required.