A Different America: How Our Country Has Changed From 1969 Through Today
Matthew Andrews teaches American History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His courses use the history of sports to explore race relations, gender ideals, political protest, and American identity. Professor Andrews was asked by the UNC student body to give the honorific “Last Lecture” to the graduating class of 2015. His students have voted him their university’s “Best Professor” three times since 2016.
Overview
The Impact Of Sports on American Culture
How much has American society changed since the 1960s? And how do you gauge the extent of this change? In this session we will try to answer these questions by exploring a few of the more significant and pivotal moments in American history through the prism of sports. We will look beyond competitive outcomes on the fields of play—who won, who lost, and by how much?—and instead will focus on what these moments can reveal about the struggles for racial justice and gender equality in our nation.
Throughout our session we will consider the ways sports—a marathon, a college football game, a prizefight, a tennis match—have reflected larger trends in American life as well as influenced American history and the nation we occupy today. Whether the impact of sports on American culture has been positive or negative is another question we will consider.
Learn more about our history by checking out other great videos at OneDayU, including ‘American Democracy: Where Are We Now, ‘A 400 Year History of Religion In America’ & ‘American Founders: what We Know Now’ all on-demand now.