Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s work in television is no secret at this point, as the writer and also Basketball Hall of Famer has been involved in a number of shows over the years. He mostly recently helped with the revival of Veronica Mars, but it turns out Abdul-Jabbar’s next work will be more historical in nature.
Variety reported on Saturday that one of the greatest basketball players ever will work with History Channel to create a documentary series about African American heroes from the Revolutionary War. According to the report, the series will be called Black Patriots and will explore the contributions of people of color such as Crispus Attucks, Peter Salem, Phillis Wheatley and James Armistead Lafayette.
“Since retiring from the NBA, I’ve been writing books and articles to bring awareness to the public of the many overlooked African-Americans in history who have contributed so much to American society. ‘Black Patriots’ chronicles the surprising, crucial, and often ignored role the black people played in the creation of our country,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “Here’s something we never learned in school: George Washington said that African-Americans were pivotal to winning the Revolutionary War. From soldiers to spies to poets, black people were as much the founders of America as those who signed the Declaration of Independence.”
There’s certainly a lot of mostly-forgotten stories for Abdul-Jabbar’s documentary to explore, and from the sounds of it the work is already done. The news came with a release date for Black Patriots: February 19. It’s unclear if he will appear in the doc or narrate it in any way, but it’s certainly in the realm of possibility given his work behind the scenes and on camera in the years since he’s retired from basketball.
