Jason Sokol: Springfield, MA native world-class historian at 29
As a kid, Jason Sokol dreamed of becoming a basketball player.
Like his hero, Magic Johnson, Jason was a point guard.
He was good, fast, heady, with a knack for getting the ball to the open man.
He learned the game on his hometown courts of Springfield. He was often the only white kid on the floor.
A ball being dribbled, the squeak of sneakers was the soundtrack to his young life.
Jason played at Suffield Academy and all four years at Oberlin College in Ohio.
At Suffield, 5-foot-8 Jason Sokol realized his basketball career had a ceiling, lower than he would have liked.
He started reading James Baldwin and Howard Zinn. He double majored in history and philosophy at Oberlin.
"I was trying to figure out who I was," Jason says.
A passion for writing developed. So did a deeper interest in history and race in America. He thought journalism, because it combined those interests and talents, could be his new career path.
"I was interested in a people's history, from the bottom up, not the great white man's view," Jason says. "I also liked studying the past and connecting it to the present."...
Read entire article at The Republican
Like his hero, Magic Johnson, Jason was a point guard.
He was good, fast, heady, with a knack for getting the ball to the open man.
He learned the game on his hometown courts of Springfield. He was often the only white kid on the floor.
A ball being dribbled, the squeak of sneakers was the soundtrack to his young life.
Jason played at Suffield Academy and all four years at Oberlin College in Ohio.
At Suffield, 5-foot-8 Jason Sokol realized his basketball career had a ceiling, lower than he would have liked.
He started reading James Baldwin and Howard Zinn. He double majored in history and philosophy at Oberlin.
"I was trying to figure out who I was," Jason says.
A passion for writing developed. So did a deeper interest in history and race in America. He thought journalism, because it combined those interests and talents, could be his new career path.
"I was interested in a people's history, from the bottom up, not the great white man's view," Jason says. "I also liked studying the past and connecting it to the present."...