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From This Collection

What basketball can teach us about economic mobility

Mar 11, 2021
Ambitions to go pro are often "a metaphor for the elusiveness of the American dream," says "Hoop Dreams" director Steve James.
Success stories for Black athletes "can sometimes hide the fact that for the great majority of people in these communities, the hurdles are so huge that it makes it hard to succeed," "Hoop Dreams" director Steve James says.
Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

A conversation with "Hoop Dreams" basketball star, 3 decades later

Mar 11, 2021
William Gates, star of the 1994 documentary, on the economic challenges college athletes face today.
"Hoop Dreams" documents over five years the lives of two high school basketball players from families struggling economically in Chicago as they work toward pro careers.
Andy Lyons/Getty Images