The Heritage
The Heritage

Author: Howard Bryant

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2018-05-08

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0807026999

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Following in the footsteps of Robeson, Ali, Robinson and others, today’s Black athletes re-engage with social issues and the meaning of American patriotism Named a best book of 2018 by Library Journal It used to be that politics and sports were as separate from one another as church and state. The ballfield was an escape from the world’s worst problems, top athletes were treated like heroes, and cheering for the home team was as easy and innocent as hot dogs and beer. “No news on the sports page” was a governing principle in newsrooms. That was then. Today, sports arenas have been transformed into staging grounds for American patriotism and the hero worship of law enforcement. Teams wear camouflage jerseys to honor those who serve; police officers throw out first pitches; soldiers surprise their families with homecomings at halftime. Sports and politics are decidedly entwined. But as journalist Howard Bryant reveals, this has always been more complicated for black athletes, who from the start, were committing a political act simply by being on the field. In fact, among all black employees in twentieth-century America, perhaps no other group had more outsized influence and power than ballplayers. The immense social responsibilities that came with the role is part of the black athletic heritage. It is a heritage built by the influence of the superstardom and radical politics of Paul Robeson, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos through the 1960s; undermined by apolitical, corporate-friendly “transcenders of race,” O. J. Simpson, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods in the following decades; and reclaimed today by the likes of LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, and Carmelo Anthony. The Heritage is the story of the rise, fall, and fervent return of the athlete-activist. Through deep research and interviews with some of sports’ best-known stars—including Kaepernick, David Ortiz, Charles Barkley, and Chris Webber—as well as members of law enforcement and the military, Bryant details the collision of post-9/11 sports in America and the politically engaged post-Ferguson black athlete.

Taboo
Taboo

Author: Jon Entine

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2008-08-05

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 0786724501

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In virtually every sport in which they are given opportunity to compete, people of African descent dominate. East Africans own every distance running record. Professional sports in the Americas are dominated by men and women of West African descent. Why have blacks come to dominate sports? Are they somehow physically better? And why are we so uncomfortable when we discuss this? Drawing on the latest scientific research, journalist Jon Entine makes an irrefutable case for black athletic superiority. We learn how scientists have used numerous, bogus "scientific" methods to prove that blacks were either more or less superior physically, and how racist scientists have often equated physical prowess with intellectual deficiency. Entine recalls the long, hard road to integration, both on the field and in society. And he shows why it isn't just being black that matters—it makes a huge difference as to where in Africa your ancestors are from.Equal parts sports, science and examination of why this topic is so sensitive, Taboois a book that will spark national debate.

Black Athletes Who Changed Sports
Black Athletes Who Changed Sports

Author: L. A. Amber

Publisher:

Published: 2020-08-31

Total Pages: 63

ISBN-13:

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Instant Best Seller in Children's Sports Biographies A tribute to our Black Athletes - This book will inspire you and your child. A beautifully crafted collection of poetry and rhymes of Black Athletes who changed sport history and inspire us-- but more importantly, a story of overcoming adversity and encouragement. Against all odds these Black athletes became the greatest players in history. Learn the Life Lessons from the Greatest Black Athletes. Black Athletes who Changed Sports - Black History Matters Book Series: honors the following black Athletes : Jesse Owens Jackie Robinson Althea Gibson Willie Mays Wilma Rudolph Muhammad Ali Arthur Ashe Walter Payton Magic Johnson Florence Griffith Joyner Jackie Joyner-Kersee Michael Jordan Debi Thomas Michael Johnson Lisa Leslie Kobe Bryant Serena Williams Maya Moore Gabby Douglas Simone Biles

Globetrotting
Globetrotting

Author: Damion L. Thomas

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2012-09-30

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 0252094298

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Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union deplored the treatment of African Americans by the U.S. government as proof of hypocrisy in the American promises of freedom and equality. This probing history examines government attempts to manipulate international perceptions of U.S. race relations during the Cold War by sending African American athletes abroad on goodwill tours and in international competitions as cultural ambassadors and visible symbols of American values. Damion L. Thomas follows the State Department's efforts from 1945 to 1968 to showcase prosperous African American athletes including Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, and the Harlem Globetrotters as the preeminent citizens of the African Diaspora, rather than as victims of racial oppression. With athletes in baseball, track and field, and basketball, the government relied on figures whose fame carried the desired message to countries where English was little understood. However, eventually African American athletes began to provide counter-narratives to State Department claims of American exceptionalism, most notably with Tommie Smith and John Carlos's famous black power salute at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Exploring the geopolitical significance of racial integration in sports during the early days of the Cold War, this book looks at the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations' attempts to utilize sport to overcome hostile international responses to the violent repression of the civil rights movement in the United States. Highlighting how African American athletes responded to significant milestones in American racial justice such as the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Thomas surveys the shifting political landscape during this period as African American athletes increasingly resisted being used in State Department propaganda and began to use sports to challenge continued oppression.

A Level Playing Field
A Level Playing Field

Author: Gerald L. Early

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2011-04-29

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 0674050983

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The noted cultural critic Gerald Early explores the intersection of race and sports, and our deeper, often contradictory attitudes toward the athletes we glorify. What desires and anxieties are encoded in our worship of (or disdain for) high-performance athletes? What other, invisible contests unfold when we watch a sporting event?

Darwin's Athletes
Darwin's Athletes

Author: John Hoberman

Publisher: HMH

Published: 1997-11-03

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 0547348541

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A “provocative, disturbing, important” look at how society’s obsession with athletic achievement undermines African Americans (The New York Times). Very few pastimes in America cross racial, regional, cultural, and economic boundaries the way sports do. From the near-religious respect for Sunday Night Football to obsessions with stars like Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, and Michael Jordan, sports are as much a part of our national DNA as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But hidden within this reverence—shared by the media, corporate America, even the athletes themselves—is a dark narrative of division, social pathology, and racism. In Darwin’s Athletes, John Hoberman takes a controversial look at the profound and disturbing effect that the worship of sports, and specifically of black players, has on national race relations. From exposing the perpetuation of stereotypes of African American violence and criminality to examining the effect that athletic dominance has on perceptions of intelligence to delving into misconceptions of racial biology, Hoberman tackles difficult questions about the sometimes subtle ways that bigotry can be reinforced, and the nature of discrimination. An important discussion on sports, cultural attitudes, and dangerous prejudices, Darwin’s Athletes is a “provocative book” that serves as required reading in the ongoing debate of America’s racial divide (Publishers Weekly).

Black Sports Heroes
Black Sports Heroes

Author: MORRIE TURNER

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2011-11-02

Total Pages: 151

ISBN-13: 1426976542

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At the 1936 Olympic Games in Germany, Jesse Owens won gold medals in the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and the 400-meter relay—and Adolph Hitler scrambled from his private box to avoid honoring the black athlete. During World War II, Joe Louis, heavyweight champion of the world, paid surprise visits to military hospitals. Though he later lost his title belt to the German Max Schmeling (which greatly pleased Hitler), when Louis died, broke, Schmeling used his wealth to pay for Louis’s funeral. In the 1971 World Series, Roberto Clemete posted the greatest single performance by any player ever, making two impossible catches in the outfield, batting .414, and hitting seven singles, two doubles, one triple, and two homeruns. Clemente died the next year in a plane crash while flying relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. Stories like these are testaments to the power of athletics to influence and inspire people, nations, and cultures. In Black Sports Heroes: Past and Present, author and cartoonist Morrie Turner skillfully presents cartoons and stories, known and unknown, about black athletes of all nations and the impact they had upon their sport and their world. Through his impressive combination of humor and fact, Turner brings “kid power” and “rainbow power” to life, showing us a world where all people, regardless of racial, religious, sexual, or physical differences, can live, learn, work, and play together.

Integrating the Gridiron
Integrating the Gridiron

Author: Lane Demas

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 0813547415

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Even the most casual sports fans celebrate the achievements of professional athletes, among them Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and Joe Louis. Yet before and after these heroes staked a claim for African Americans in professional sports, dozens of college athletes asserted their own civil rights on the amateur playing field, and continue to do so today. Integrating the Gridiron, the first book devoted to exploring the racial politics of college athletics, examines the history of African Americans on predominantly white college football teams from the nineteenth century through today. Lane Demas compares the acceptance and treatment of black student athletes by presenting compelling stories of those who integrated teams nationwide, and illuminates race relations in a number of regions, including the South, Midwest, West Coast, and Northeast. Focused case studies examine the University of California, Los Angeles in the late 1930s; integrated football in the Midwest and the 1951 Johnny Bright incident; the southern response to black players and the 1955 integration of the Sugar Bowl; and black protest in college football and the 1969 University of Wyoming "Black 14." Each of these issues drew national media attention and transcended the world of sports, revealing how fans--and non-fans--used college football to shape their understanding of the larger civil rights movement.

Separate Games
Separate Games

Author: David K. Wiggins

Publisher: University of Arkansas Press

Published: 2016-11-01

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1682260178

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The hardening of racial lines during the first half of the twentieth century eliminated almost all African Americans from white organized sports, forcing black athletes to form their own teams, organizations, and events. This separate sporting culture, explored in the twelve essays included here, comprised much more than athletic competition; these "separate games" provided examples of black enterprise and black self-help and showed the importance of agency and the quest for racial uplift in a country fraught with racialist thinking and discrimination.

Policing Black Athletes
Policing Black Athletes

Author: Vernon L. Andrews

Publisher: Peter Lang Incorporated, International Academic Publishers

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 9781433167874

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"Black (and Latinx) athletes enjoy individuality within a team context, and at one and the same time express themselves with the intent of motivating their teammates. But there is still a racial disconnect with many people"--