Disney in the Classroom
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The power of football is enhanced because anyone can be on the team. Our football program doesn’t cut players and those who remain in the program eventually start at some position.  Doing this for a player is possible because almost anyone can become an important part of a football team.  I can think of several young men, who as freshmen would have been killed if we put them in a game, who as seniors made the all league team. Young ladies can also play football. We had a young woman on one of our JV teams, and Sonora High (the other local high school) had a young lady who started at kicker.

This Summerville player did not play running back until his Senior year when he started at the position 

At first the Titans hate and fear each other
(c) Disney

Yet, an interest in football doesn't fully explain my students' response to Remember the Titans. I think the most important reason the movie has such a profound effect on Summerville High students is because it addresses something they fear. Students from Tuolumne County grow up in a rural, predominately white area. They have little contact with the cultures of other races. This lack of contact (and by extension knowledge) can cause students to fear other races and cultures. This fear is increased by the news media's coverage of race relations. Such coverage tends to be negative which encourages the idea that the different races will never get along.

The Titans celebrate their state championship
(c) Disney

My students' confusion about people of other races makes Remember the Titans an important movie for them to watch. The movie shows black and white people working to overcome their differences, unifying to achieve a goal, and then accomplishing something wonderful. Something even more wonderful than what the movie showed. For in unifying themselves the Titans unified their community not just for a season but up to the present time. Accounts from the movie's writer, and the actual Titan coaches, describe Alexandria as a community that chooses to be truly integrated. This is an accomplishment vastly more important than winning a state football championship. Remember the Titans teaches my students that getting to know people of other races isn't something to fear; but is something to look forward to, something that can enrich and dignify their lives.

That’s why Remember the Titans gives me hope.

A student's view of the meaning of Remember the Titans