Remember the Titans: A Story of Equality

A few weeks ago, I watched one of my favorite football movies of all time, "Remember the Titans". After viewing the film in its entirety for the first time in years, I have come to understand the story's true meaning. Although "Remember the Titans" is a great football film, it is more importantly a story that reveals the true power of equality.

This movie portrays the true story of the T.C Williams High School Football team in Alexandria, Virginia during their inaugural season in 1971. This was the same year that the school was forced by federal laws to integrate African American students. Therefore, the team consisted of both white and black players. The head coach of the Titans was Herman Boone, an African American man played by Denzel Washington. At the beginning of the film when the school first opened, there was a lot of racial tension between the white and black players. They did not sit together at the same tables and only associated with players of the same race. This tension extended even further into the coaching staff as Coach Boone was assisted by legendary Coach Bill Yoast, a white man. However, the turning point in the team's relationship with one another comes when Coach Boone takes the team on an early morning run to the Gettysburg Memorial during their summer training. This scene is attached below.

This team would unite together and go on to win the Virginia Football State Championship with a perfect 13-0 season record. They were a symbol for the community that whites and blacks could live in unison with each other.

There is no denying that one of the major themes in this film is equality. But what if I told you that the story of the 1971 T.C Williams Titans is connected to the Declaration of Independence. Yes, I said the Declaration of Independence. You may ask how does a football story connect to the colonists' fight for independence? It is the colonists and the 1971 T.C Williams Titans' commitment to egalitarianism that allowed both groups to succeed in their endeavors.

In the first line of the Declaration of Independence, the colonists refer to themselves as, "one people." The colonists recognize that in order to be successful in declaring their independence from King George III and Great Britain, they must unite together and bear true allegiance with one another. The colonists were able to look past their ethnic and regional differences in order to give birth to the United States of America. This sense of egalitarianism expressed by the colonists in 1776 is very much like the bond that formed between the players and coaches of the 1971 T.C Williams Titans Football team. After Coach Boone gave his speech at the Gettysburg Memorial, players began to slowly but surely look past the color of their fellow teammates' skin for the common good of the team. In fact team captain Gerry Bertier, a white player, and Julius Campbell, a black player, were instrumental in this process of bringing the team together, and their friendship served as an example for the other players to follow. The clip attached below reveals how Gerry's and Julius' relationship changed the entire culture and attitude of the team.

Additionally, Coach Boone and Coach Yoast, as the leaders of the team, established an egalitarian society within the locker room by playing only the best players, regardless of their race. The T.C Williams Titans became "one team" which allowed them to achieve their goal of winning a state championship. 

Without equality, T.C Williams High School would not have their 1971 Football State Championship trophy in their school's trophy case. Without equality, we would not have a nation today. The story behind the Declaration of Independence and the movie "Remember the Titans" shows us that when we as a society put equality above everything else, we can accomplish anything that we put our minds to.