Race and sport : the struggle for equality on and off the field / essays by Scott Brooks ... [and others] ; edited by Charles K. Ross.

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Contributor:

Brooks, Scott

Ross, Charles Kenyatta, 1964-

Conference Name:

Porter L. Fortune, Jr. History Symposium (27th : 2002 : University of Mississippi)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Racism in sports--United States--History.

Racism in sports.

African American athletes--History.

African American athletes.

History.

United States.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

xiv, 232 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Jackson, Miss. : University Press of Mississippi, [2004]

Summary:

Even before the desegregation of the military and public education and before blacks had full legal access to voting, racial barriers had begun to fall in American sports. This collection of essays shows that for many African Americans it was the world of athletics that first opened an avenue to equality and democratic involvement.

Race and Sport showcases African Americans as key figures making football, baseball, basketball, and boxing internationally popular, though inequalities still exist today.

Among the early notables discussed is Fritz Pollard, an African American who played professional football before the National Football League established a controversial color barrier. Another, the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson, exemplifies the black American athlete as an international celebrity. African American women also played an important role in bringing down the barriers, especially in the early development of women's basketball. In baseball, both African American and Hispanic players faced down obstacles and entered the sports mainstream after World War II. One essay discusses the international spread of American imperialism through sport. Another shows how mass media images of African American athletes continue to shape public perceptions.

Although each of these essays explores a different facet of sports in America, together they comprise an analytical examination of African American society's tumultuous struggle for full participation both on and off the athletic field.

Contents:

Fritz Pollard and integration in early professional football / John M. Carroll

Before Magic and Keyshawn : Sugar Ray Robinson - the businessman / Kenneth L. Shropshire and Scott Brooks

Fostering community consciousness : the role of women's basketball at Black colleges and universities, 1900-1950 / Rita Liberti

Major league baseball's separate-and-unequal doctrine : the African American and Latino experience in spring training 1946-1961 / Michael E. Lomax

The American imperial crusade : race, religion, and sport in the Pacific / Gerald R. Gems

The African American student-athlete / Earl Smith

Muscular assimilationism : sport and the paradoxes of racial reform / Patrick B. Miller

The uneven view of African American ballers / C. Keith Harrison and Alicia Valdez.

Notes:

Papers originally presented at the 27th Porter L. Fortune Jr. History Symposium, Sept. 25-27, 2002 at the University of Mississippi--c.f. p. vii.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1578066573

OCLC:

57400643