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Let Them Play: Three Words That Changed the Course of a City

Sponsored Project

  • Thomas McConnell, Director
  • Holly Reed, Producer
Caddies, one black one white, carrying golf bags for two ladies on the 6th green at Lions Municipal in Austin, Texas. We believe the caddie holding the flag is Alvin Propps, who at 9 years old desegregated the golf course in 1950, creating a civil rights landmark as the first golf course, and likely first public accommodation, in the former Confederate States to be integrated

About the Project

In 1950, two young African-American boys risked their lives to play on a segregated golf course in Austin, Texas, not knowing the impact they would have on civil rights in the south. The boys were detained and their fate left in the hands of the Mayor and City Council of Austin. What transpired became a significant step forward in the struggle for equal rights to public places in the southern United States. Lions Municipal Golf Course is now recognized as the first public golf course in the South to desegregate. "Let Them Play" is a documentary film series about on the history and role of public and private
golf courses in shaping equal play, golf’s role in creating a ‘lost generation’ of black golfers, and the compelling and complicated history of the integration of golf in America.