From Lew Alcindor to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Race, Religion, and Representation in Basketball, 1968–1975

Abstract

From 1968 to 1975, Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar traveled a turbulent personal path toward self-discovery. His journey had profound implications for the larger cultural landscape of race, sport, politics, and religion. As he became professional basketball's chief superstar, he was framed by the press as sullen and solitary, and he served as the villain in a media-driven storyline informed by popular prejudices. Yet for many African Americans and other progressive fans, he exemplified the ideals that made black power uplifting and affirmative, rather than threatening. His conversion to Islam and his name change further shaped new cultural and political territory for the black athlete. It highlighted a personal struggle within Abdul-Jabbar – he sought a kind of personal freedom, even as he revealed a tendency to subsume himself before strong authority figures. He nevertheless stood, in this period, as the nation's most prominent face of classical Islam. His religious conversion further distanced him from much of the American public, but over time he presented an effective, progressive narrative about the place of Islam in American life.

Giants in the Frame: A 1964 Photo Analysis of How Malcolm X and Dr. Harry Edwards Connected Race, Religion, and Sport

“…Religion has historically manifested in sport through public prayer and displays of heroism (Hoffman 2010). Scholars have paid particular attention to contemporary Black athletes and their relationships with religion, such as Kobe Bryant and the influence of Catholic teachings (Mazurkiewicz 2021), Tiger Woods and Buddhism (Thangaraj 2020), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's path to self-actualization through his conversion to Islam (Goudsouzian 2017). Jones (1991) posited that both church and sports appeal to Black Americans because of their overlapping structures of ritualized order, structure, and discipline: "These certainties are reassuring to African Americans and a source of strength" (p. 2).…”

“…Their protest during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City was in coordination with Edwards and their vision for racial uplift. Malcolm X influenced Black athletes as well, most notably Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's conversion to Islam (Goudsouzian 2017;McElvain 2022).…”

Who Says Shut Up and Dribble? Race and the Response to Athletes’ Political Activism

“…While the nature of their activism varied, several of the most prominent political activist athletes in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, including football's Jim Brown, basketball's Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and boxing's Muhammad Ali, were each African Americans who spoke out on matters of racial injustice (Goudsouzian, 2006(Goudsouzian, , 2017Gorsevski & Butterworth, 2011;Linden, 2016). It is fair to say that issues of race have been and remain at the center of the political athlete's activism (see, for example, Cooper et al, 2019).…”

Who Says Shut Up and Dribble? Race and the Response to Athletes' Political Activism

“…While the nature of their activism varied, several of the most prominent political activist athletes in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, including football's Jim Brown, basketball's Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and boxing's Muhammad Ali were each African Americans who spoke out on matters of racial injustice (Goudsouzian 2006(Goudsouzian , 2017Gorsevski and Butterworth 2017;Linden 2016). It is fair to say that issues 2 A similar, if quieter, protest effort was conducted by Toronto Blue Jays player Carlos Delgado, a native of Puerto Rico (Elias 2011).…”