when white and black athletes faced off in basketball and .oxing which conversations and disagreements over racial issues took place. this class is about one hour and 10 minutes. matthew: we have been exploring the question of gender and women s rights and sports. we will return our focus to race relations. we re going to explore what i like to call the return of the great white hope in the 1980 s. you know all about the original great white hope. you did research on it. jim jefferies in 1910. he comes out of retirement s and white racedeem the war righ and defeat jack johnson. was unsuccessful. he failed. in the 1980 s there were a few white athletes who are thought of in the same way. these were white athletes that white americans hoped would score symbolic victories in sports and the attitudes towards these athletes suggested that perhaps the nation had not come as far as many people like to thank. think. states may have entered what commentators were calling a post-civil