Show Notes and Links to Scott Ellsworth’s Work and Allusions/Texts from Episode 55
On Episode 55, Pete talks with Scott Ellsworth about the writing life, his interests and inspirations, and the incredible events and personalities that surround the famous “Secret Game” between the players of North Carolina College for Negroes and the white players of Duke University’s Medical School. Scott’s book on the subject is The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball's Lost Triumph.
The two also discuss the research and events surrounding the Tulsa Race Massacre and Scott’s highly-acclaimed book, set to come out on May 18, The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice.
Scott Ellsworth is the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Game, winner of the 2016 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing. He has written about American history for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Formerly a historian at the Smithsonian Institution, he is also the author of The World Beneath Their Feet and Death in a Promised Land, his groundbreaking account of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. Scott lives in Ann Arbor, where he teaches in the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan.
"Scott Ellsworth's absolutely riveting book does more than chronicle the Tulsa Race massacre of 1921 and its literal exhumation. With a stunning combination of objectivity and empathy, it demonstrates how even in polarized times we can come together in pursuit of truth. Though concerned with past events, it explores every stratum of the American city now—from City Hall, to dive bars, to homeless encampments, to the living rooms of the wealthy and the poor, regardless of color or creed. Anyone interested in America's future should read it as a template for the reconciliation that lies ahead." —Tim Blake Nelson, actor, Watchmen and Just Mercy, and Tulsa native on The Ground Breaking: an American City and its Search for Justice
Buy The Ground Breaking: an American City and its Search for Justice (Out May 18)
Buy The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball's Lost Triumph
Book Review for The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball's Lost Triumph
“JIM CROW LOSES; The Secret Game” Published in New York Times Magazine - March 31, 1996-by Scott Ellsworth
“On MLK Day, recalling The Secret Game"-by Mark Adams, January 17. 2011, on Espn.com
At about 3:10, Scott talks about the lead up to the upcoming release of The Ground Breaking: An American City and Its Search for Justice on May 18 of this year
At about 4:30, Scott talks about his early days of writing and reading
At about 8:00, Scott talks about the texts and writers that have been given him “chills at will,” including A River Runs Through It, Their Eyes Were Watching God, among others, in line with his belief all literature is
At about 10:45, Scott relates an amusing anecdote about the great writer Zora Neale Hurston that is recounted in his book Secret Game, and Pete and Scott discuss Hurston’s interesting life and important work (including "How it Feels to be Colored Me")
At about 13:00, discussion about Aubrey from The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball's Lost Triumph leads to an overview of the historical events leading up to and including those of the book
At about 16:25, Scott talks about some of the important characters from the book, including Jack Burgess and his rude awakening to the ugly world of Jim Crow, and Dave Hubbell
At about 20:00, Scott talks about his thought process in using some of the obsolete and often-fraught racial terminology of the book’s time period
At about 21:55, Scott talks about Henry “Big Dog” Thomas, a memorable member of the North Carolina College for Negroes, and the moving late scene in the book where Big Dog asserts his pride and his independence
At about 24:00. Sco
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