Schedule | TNT Originals | Turner Learning
Media Literacy
- Fact vs. Fiction
- St. Augustine vs. Louisiana High School Athletic Association
Fact vs. Fiction
While PASSING GLORY was inspired by the true story of the St. Augustine Purple Knights as seen through the eyes of writer Harold Sylvester, who was on the historic team, it differs from both the true St. Augustine story, and more broadly from the Civil Rights Movement of the time. Below are only a few of the differences. Ask your students to consider some of the questions raised by these discrepancies.
PASSING GLORY: Nick Connor is a White coach who takes another job; Father Verrett becomes the new Coach.
Reality: Nick Connor was a Black coach who stuck with the team. Father Verrett never actually coached the team.
Question: Why do you think the filmmakers made these changes? How does it add to our appreciation of the efforts of Father Verrett‹who did fight hard to integrate the league?
PASSING GLORY: Father Verrett spontaneously sits down in the segregated diner and is subsequently arrested.
Reality: Father Verrett was never arrested. The scene in the diner is a dramatic element added to the film to depict the struggle between Blacks and Whites at the time.
Also, though sit-ins and picketing by Black youth organizations such as SNCC occurred in New Orleans from 1960-62, by the time depicted in the film, most White merchants and Black leaders in New Orleans had agreed to a quiet and peaceful integration of lunch counters. Nationally, however, many people did continue to put their lives on the line to integrate dining (and other) establishments. Unlike the case of Father Verrett, most of these efforts were very well planned.
Question: List some of the film's obvious references to the Civil Rights organizing efforts. Why do you think the film omits more of the actual Civil Rights efforts of the time?
PASSING GLORY: In the diner, Mike Malone's father seems disappointed that the waitress has called the police. He tells Father Verrett that he is lucky to be saved.
Reality: During the Civil Rights Movement, the police often stood by while Civil Rights activists were pummeled. Sometimes the police themselves took part in the beatings.
Question: Why doesn't the film have scenes of the team being brutalized? Would this change the overall tone of the film? Would we think differently of Father Verrett's actions and judgements?
PASSING GLORY: The game is won by one point at the last second.
Reality: While the match-up between the all-White Jesuit basketball team and the Purple Knights actually occurred, St. Augustine beat Jesuit handily.
Question: How does this ending add to the excitement of the game? Does it do more than that? How would a blowout change the delicate balance in the relationship between Travis and Mike?
A bigger question: How do you feel about the "happy ending" of the film? Does our current entertainment environment insist on such easy solutions? Is there any ambivalence at the end of this film? How do the end titles serve to support or undercut whatever "negative" side to the ending there might be? Is a happy ending fitting to this story? What does it suggest about the eradication of racism?
St. Augustine vs. Louisiana High School Athletic Association (LHSAA)
While PASSING GLORY depicts Travis Porter as the agent of change on the basketball court, the real landmark decisions were made in a court of law. Prior to 1967, there were two state high school sports leagues in Louisiana: The Louisiana High School Athletic Association, which was composed of all-White parochial and public high schools, and the LIALO, composed of all-Black parochial and public high schools. In 1962, St. Augustine applied for membership in the LHSAA to be recognized on a state level, since only the LHSAA was given state and national ranking among sports writers. According to John P. Nelson, the attorney who ultimately tried and won the case for St. Augustine, "The top Black players were not recognized at all. The all-state players picked by the newspapers were all White. The priests at St. Augustine wanted to change the situation because they felt they had one of the best teams in the nation. They wanted their athletes to get the same recognition that other players had and to give Black athletes the same opportunities to compete and be selected for college scholarships."
Upon St. Augustine's application to the league-the first Black high school to apply-the LHSAA changed their acceptance rule: instead of a committee vote, the entire membership of the LHSAA (405 principals and coaches) was required to vote, and the new applicant would need a two-thirds vote to win acceptance. In addition, it was specified that members had to stand up to cast their votes of approval. On their initial vote, St. Augustine received only 11 out of 405 votes.
The school, under the leadership of Principal Rev. Robert Grant, applied again in 1963 and 1964 with the same discouraging results. In 1965, St. Augustine hired Civil Rights attorney John P. Nelson to file suit against the LHSAA to gain admittance. Nelson took the position (as he had in his 1962 Civil Rights case against Tulane University) that the LHSAA was a state agency and therefore in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. On this basis, he ultimately won the case. In 1967, the court ordered the desegregation of the league and the dissolution of both organizations (LHSAA and LIALO) into one.
Activity: Read the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Why do you think John P. Nelson used this as the basis for his case? Read Nelson's closing statement in the court case of St. Augustine vs. LHSAA. What were his arguments? What evidence from PASSING GLORY could you use to support this claim? Based on what you know about the differences in what the law says and what is actually done, predict what it would have been like for the St. Augustine team in the first few years following the 1967 decision.
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"The sad thing," said Nelson, "is that the black organization was left behind and the white organization was left in control. The year after St. Augustine won the case, the school had a fantastic football team, but within the first year they were put on probation because the LSHAA said that St. Augustine did not have the proper course requirements. There were four courses that athletes were required to take in order to maintain eligibility in the LSHAA. St. Augustine had a different name for one of these courses, so their football team wasn't allowed to play in the league that year." In this way, though the civil rights case had been won, the conflicts continued. However, by the late 60s, the New Orleans high schools had become integrated and many "white" schools began getting black athletes.