During the 1968-69 school year, an all-black high school in Columbus, Ohio, won both the state’s basketball and baseball championships.
The year 1968 was marked by the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the war in Vietnam, campus protests and civil violence. Yet in a time of heightened racial unrest, the athletes from this segregated inner-city high school triumphed.
In his latest book, Tigerland: 1968-1969: A City Divided, a Nation Torn Apart, and a Magical Season of Healing, journalist Wil Haygood tells the story of Columbus's East High School and how its athletes and coaches persevered to defeat bigger, richer, whiter teams to win two state championships.
Heygood, the Boadway Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence in Miami University's Department of Media, Journalism & Film, will speak at Miami's convocation August 24. Each incoming student in the class of 2022 will receive a signed copy of Tigerland. The book will be used to teach classes this fall.
Wil Haygood recently spoke with Cincinnati Edition's Dan Hurley about Tigerland and what lessons we can learn from it about race relations in America.
Tune in to Cincinnati Edition August 23 starting at 1 p.m. to hear this segment.