Beyond ‘Remember the Titans’: Alexandria Cheerleaders Tell Their Side of the Story
ALEXANDRIA, VA — A Hollywood movie made Alexandria’s 1971 football team famous around the world.
On Saturday, the women who cheered from the sidelines will help Alexandria hear more of the real story.
“Remembering All of the Titans: Cheerleading Legacies” will bring multiple generations of T.C. Williams High School cheerleaders together from 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Alexandria History Museum at The Lyceum, 201 S. Washington St.
Members of the historic 1971 squad are expected to participate. Admission is free.
The conversation will examine school integration, sports and Alexandria’s Black community through the experiences of women whose leadership, friendships and community work extended far beyond a football season.
Alexandria native Dr. La’Tonya Rease-Miles, a 1988 T.C. Williams graduate, will facilitate the discussion.
According to the official Virginia Humanities event page, the program will explore how leadership, mentorship and legacy have passed through generations of Alexandria cheerleaders.
The Story Beyond the Movie
Remember the Titans introduced millions of viewers to a dramatized version of the 1971 T.C. Williams football season and Alexandria’s school integration.
Football players and coaches became the public symbols of that history. Saturday’s conversation asks residents to look toward another part of the field and listen to women whose memories can add depth, correction and humanity to Alexandria’s understanding of the period.
The event description poses a pointed question: “We might all know the movie myth of Remember the Titans in Alexandria, but do we know the whole story?”
The panel’s multigenerational format also reaches beyond 1971. By bringing former cheerleaders from different eras together, organizers hope to show how women’s sports created lasting networks of leadership and mentorship within Alexandria.
The program is supported in part by a Virginia Humanities grant. The City of Alexandria’s Historic Alexandria announcement also lists the Saturday event.
What to Know
“Remembering All of the Titans: Cheerleading Legacies” runs from 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12, at The Lyceum, 201 S. Washington St.
Admission is free. No registration requirement is listed on the official event page.
For Alexandrians who know the movie by heart, Saturday offers something the screenplay cannot: the women who lived the history, telling it in their own words.
