Garret McCorkle
Garret McCorkle is the Manager of Education at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Before public history, he was a K-12 teacher and brings a perspective that centers on interpreting complex ideas for a broad audience. Recently honored as a Kentucky Colonel for his work as an Educator, Garret has led the push to create a digital learning hub for the Ali Center’s website. He also leads youth programs, K-12 outreach, and programs that seek to develop athletes into social changemakers in the spirit of Muhammad Ali.
University of Louisville
Session
This panel explores how boxing and entertainment were shaped across the African continent by racial identities and global currents related to race, empire, and Pan-African solidarities. Using the cases of legislation regarding race and the sport of boxing throughout the British Empire during the 19th and 20th centuries, the Zaire '74 concert (tied to the Muhammad Ali-George Foreman "Rumble in the Jungle" fight), and the failed attempts by a black South African promoter to bring Sonny Liston and Muhammad Ali to apartheid South Africa, this panel interrogates how African sport and leisure was shaped by its surroundings and how its surroundings were shaped by them.