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Film, Video Bill Russell oral history interview conducted by Taylor Branch in Seattle, Washington, 2013 May 12

Bill Russell oral history interview conducted by Taylor Branch in Seattle, Washington, 2013 May 12

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About this Item

Title

  • Bill Russell oral history interview conducted by Taylor Branch in Seattle, Washington, 2013 May 12

Summary

  • Basketball player 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.

Names

  • Russell, Bill, 1934- interviewee
  • Branch, Taylor, interviewer
  • Civil Rights History Project (U.S.)

Created / Published

  • 2013.

Headings

  • -  Russell, Bill,--1934---Interviews
  • -  Boston Celtics (Basketball team)
  • -  African American basketball players--Interviews
  • -  Discrimination in sports--United States

Genre

  • Filmed Interviews
  • Interviews
  • Oral histories
  • Video recordings

Notes

  • -  Recorded in Seattle, Washington, on May 12, 2013.
  • -  Civil Rights History Project Collection (AFC 2010/039), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
  • -  Copies of items are also held at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (U.S.).
  • -  Bill Russell was a leader in the sports arena as an advocate for justice and equality, both as a member of the basketball teams for the University of San Francisco and the Boston Celtics.
  • -  The Civil Rights History Project is a joint project of the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African American History and Culture to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of individuals who participated in the Civil Rights movement.
  • -  In English.
  • -  Finding aid http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af013005

Medium

  • 11 video files of 11 (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (187 min.) : digital, sound, color.
  • 1 transcript (60 pages).

Source Collection

  • Civil Rights History Project collection AFC 2010/039: 0088

Repository

  • Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, DC USA 20540 to 4610 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/folklife.home

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2015669187

Access Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • video

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

Rights & Access

The individuals documented in these collection items retain copyright and related rights to the use of their recorded and written testimonies and memories.  They have granted the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution permission to provide access to their interviews and related materials for purposes that are consistent with each agency’s educational mission, such as publication and transmission, in whole or in part, on the Web. Their written permission is required for commercial, profit-making distribution, reproduction, or other use beyond that allowed by fair use or other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. See our Legal Notices and Privacy and Publicity Rights for additional information and restrictions.

The American Folklife Center, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the professional fieldworkers who carry out these projects feel a strong ethical responsibility to the people they have visited and who have consented to have their lives documented for the historical record. The Center asks that researchers approach the materials in this collection with respect for the culture and sensibilities of the people whose lives, ideas, and creativity are documented here. Researchers are also reminded that privacy and publicity rights may pertain to certain uses of this material.

Researchers or others who would like to make further use of these collection materials should contact the Folklife Reading Room for assistance. 

Credit Line

Civil Rights History Project collection (AFC 2010/039), American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Russell, Bill, Interviewee, Taylor Branch, and U.S Civil Rights History Project. Bill Russell oral history interview conducted by Taylor Branch in Seattle, Washington. 2013. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/2015669187/.

APA citation style:

Russell, B., Branch, T. & Civil Rights History Project, U. S. (2013) Bill Russell oral history interview conducted by Taylor Branch in Seattle, Washington. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2015669187/.

MLA citation style:

Russell, Bill, Interviewee, Taylor Branch, and U.S Civil Rights History Project. Bill Russell oral history interview conducted by Taylor Branch in Seattle, Washington. 2013. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2015669187/>.