Happy Birthday to basketball legend, historian, and thought leader Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (b. April 16, 1947, in Harlem, NY), who has proudly asserted his Black identity throughout his life. Playing professionally through the 1970s and 1980s, he helped continue momentum for social change from the mainstream narrative civil rights decade of the 1960s. Born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr., he told reporters in 1971 to call him by his new name: Kareem Abdul Jabbar. He made the change surrounding the announcement of a state-sponsored trip to Africa by himself, his teammate Oscar Robertson, and coach Larry Costello. As historian Theresa Runstedtler emphasizes, “Though exceptional in size and talent, Jabbar was by no means singular in his desire to push back against white Americans’ rigid expectations of Black athletes. As African American ballplayers gained strength in numbers and greater financial clout in the early 1970s, they were no longer content to abide by the rules and customs of the white basketball establishment, whether on or off the court.”
Recommended reading to learn more:
Citations: Theresa Runstedtler, Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation that Saved the Soul of the NBA (New York: Bold Type Books, 2023), 128-129, 131-134, Kindle edition; “2016 Medal of Freedom Ceremony,” photograph (Washington, D.C., November 22, 2016), https://catalog.archives.gov/id/281106021.
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