Written by For people like me, this is a beautiful time of the year. I’m a sports fan, and the overlapping of the end of the baseball season and the beginning of football creates excitement. I’m also a history buff. And I am excited about a PBS documentary that premiers next week that highlights how sports and history overlap to influence our culture.
Everyone knows the story of Muhammad Ali, likely the most significant sports figure of all time. When I was ten years old, I was introduced to his story when I saw The Greatest. I was impressed not only with his accomplishments in the ring. Ali fought and risked his career for what he believed in, and his charisma was an incredible influence on me and many others. I watched the end of his career on delayed broadcasts on Wide World of Sports with Howard Cosell.
Now, historian Ken Burns is releasing his version of the story. Burns understands the influence of sports on American culture like no one else. His flair for detail and ability to tell a story from multiple perspectives will likely add insight to us on Ali’s life and career. He viewed his documentary on baseball, where he chronicled Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier as a second chapter to his documentary on the Civil War. His portrayal of Ali will likely be the third.
It is this use of multiple perspectives that make Ken Burns documentaries so great. Critics accused Burns of being too apologetic to the story of the Confederacy. His documentary on World War II focused on the families of four American soldiers from each corner of the country and how the war impacted their communities. He told the story of Vietnam through the eyes of the North Vietnamese and the war protestors at home and America’s expansion to the west through the eyes of the Native Americans and the Asian immigrants who helped build the railroad.
This level of detail and use of varying viewpoints is in stark contrast to the summarized view of history we learned in school. When I went to school, the curriculum in history classes centered around an idea of American exceptionalism that supported a single perspective on race, gender, religion, and patriotism. We saw in the media and on TV shows like Happy Days stories that primarily helped this narrative.
The story of the twentieth century in America centers around the rise and fall of this narrative. Each Ken Burns documentary provides a chapter to the story. Twenty years after Robinson opened the door on race, Ali highlighted the impacts of racial inequality and challenged traditional norms on religion and patriotism with his conversion to Islam and refusal to participate in the Vietnam War. The second half of the century primarily featured the backlash against the hypocrisies caused by the narrative once they were exposed. Those that didn’t fit in were leaders of the rebellion.
So far, the story of twenty-first-century America is around two competing narratives built from the remnants of the twentieth century. More and more, our culture forces us into one or the other. They compete against each other in a zero-sum game, resulting in little progress in overcoming our significant issues.
The reason I enjoy history so much is that I am curious. I refuse to accept any narrative and form my views by looking at what I observe through my lens. My values and perspectives filter this lens. I constantly am changing this vision as I learn more.
I find Muhammed Ali fascinating because I share many of his values but come from a far different perspective. I love his ability to overcome adversity, his pursuit of the truth, and his desire to do the right thing. However, I come from a different time and of another race and religion. Studying his story helps me understand our culture from a different viewpoint.
Unfortunately, most of us are either apathetic toward history or too busy to take the time to study it. Watching Ken Burns documentaries requires a significant time commitment. It is far too easy to pick a side and adopt the values and beliefs of the tribe we choose rather than challenge ourselves to identify our own and align them to those of others.
Burns does a great job of highlighting the flaws of his subjects, providing us with perspective. His recent documentary on Ernest Hemingway told his story through his failed marriages. Ali is a complicated character, and I look forward to seeing how Burns balances the bad with the good.
I also look forward to how Burns portrays the role of a sports hero like Ali in society. Our society initially rejected Ali due to his bold character, conversion to Islam, and opposition to the war in Vietnam. Once views regarding the war changed to his position, he was accepted. By then, Ali had transcended himself by his accomplishments inside the ring and his humanitarian efforts outside of it.
Who will be next in line and be the fourth chapter of the story? Michael or LeBron? Tiger? It’s going to be hard to be greater than the greatest.