I think my son’s favorite movie is “Remember the Titans”.  (Here is but one blog discussion of the movie.) It’s a loosely truthful account of the events that transpired when the city of Alexandria finally desegregated its schools in the 1970s.

Before integration, there were three high schools- George Washington (from where  Willard Scott, Jim Morrison, Papa John Phillips, and Mama Cass graduated), Hammond, and Parker Gray (the Black high school- yes, on the wrong side of the tracks).  Parker Gray was obliterated, while the other two high schools became Junior High Schools.

Right before Black History Month this year, the screenwriter of the movie, Gregory Allen Howard, met his demise. He died of a heart ailment in Miami on the 27^th of January.  That was one day shy of his 71^st birthday.

Besides “Remember the Titans”, Howard also wrote the biopic “Harriet” about Harriet Tubman, plus he was the original screenwriter for “Ali”.)   After the “Ali” screenplay was finished,  Howard moved to Alexandria (he as born in Norfolk, VA).  He noted the relative racial harmony in the city and vaguely recalled the story of the integrated football team that might have been the start of this phenomenon.

That was the impetus behind “Remember the Titans (released in 2000);  the stories he recalled from his childhood in Virginia about the team and the school desegregation..  No one was rushing to produce the movie, despite its tale of how the Blacks and Whites came together to win the state championship after an undefeated season of football games.   That is until it was revived by the storied producer, Jerry Bruckheimer. The Disney movie grossed more than $ 130 million.  (It didn’t hurt that Denzel Washington and Will Patton were the stars of the movie.)  Howard was awarded the “Black Reel” Award for the movie.

Interestingly, the movie had two premieres.  The first was at the Rose Bowl, the second at the White House (Bill Clinton was president at the time).

That pattern, the difficulty in getting a movie made, repeated for his “Harriet” , which took some 25 years to reach the big screen.  It was only after the success of the movies “12 Years a Slave” and “Black Panther that led the Hollywood muckamucks to consider it as a viable concept.

Bye, Mr. Howard.  Thanks for those movies.

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