- Created by
- Civil Rights History Project, American, founded 2009
- Interview of
- Bill Russell, American, 1934 - 2022
- Interviewed by
- Branch, Taylor, American, born 1947
- Subject of
- University of San Francisco, American, founded 1855
- National Basketball Association, American, founded 1946
- Boston Celtics, American, founded 1946
- Major League Baseball, American, founded 1869
- Boston Red Sox, American, founded 1901
- Date
- May 12, 2013
- Medium
- digital
- Dimensions
- Duration: 3 hr., 7 min., 25 sec.
- Total: 312.47 GB
- 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.
- LOC ID: afc2010039_crhp0088
- 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
- Collection title
- Civil Rights History Project
- Classification
- Media Arts-Film and Video
- Movement
- Civil Rights Movement
- Type
- video recordings
- oral histories
- digital media - born digital
- Topic
- Activism
- American West
- Athletes
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Civil rights
- Education
- Olympics
- Race relations
- Social reform
- Sports
- U.S. History, 1933-1945
- U.S. History, 1945-1953
- U.S. History, 1953-1961
- U.S. History, 1961-1969
- U.S. History, 1969-2001
- U.S. History, 2001-
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in partnership with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
- Object number
- 2011.174.88.1a-k
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture and The American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.