Description
Book Synopsis African Americans have made substantial contributions to the sporting world, and vice versa. This wide-ranging collection of new essays explores the inextricable ties between sports and African American life and culture. Contributors critically address important topics such as the historical context of African American participation in major U.S. sports, social justice and responsibility, gender and identity, and media and art.
Trade ReviewThought-provoking, engaging, and timely, this interdisciplinary collection of essays identifies the historical and contemporary themes at the intersection of race, gender, and sports and offers a path forward."—Eric Hall, author,
Arthur Ashe: Tennis and Justice in the Civil Rights EraTable of ContentsIntroduction (Drew D. Brown)
Part I: History
We Were Better Runners: African American Women
and the Summer Olympics, 1932–1948 (Stanley Keith Arnold)
Sporting Congregations: The Foundation of Black College
Football (Derrick E. White)
From Chitlins to Championships: Limited Opportunities for African American Professional Wrestlers (Kevin Hogg)
Part II: Social Justice and Responsibility
Social Justice and Black Basketball: Playing the Game
and Off the Court (Demetrius W. Pearson)
Social Responsibility and Accountability: Dr. Harry Edwards
and the Paradox of the Black Male College Athlete (Fritz G. Polite and Jeremai E. Santiago)
African American Sport Activism and Broader Social Movements
(Joseph N. Cooper, Michael Mallery, Jr., and Charles D.T. Macaulay)
Refusing to Play Their Games! A Fanonian Analysis and Robesonian Proposition on Sports, Race and Divestment (Miciah Z. Yehudah)
Part Iii: Gender and Identity
Black Women's Sports Experiences Beyond the Game (F. Michelle Richardson and Akilah R. Carter-Francique)
The Stories of Boobie Miles and Rysheed Jordan: How the
Institution of Sports Is Failing Black Male Athletes (Drew D. Brown and Christina Kanu)
"Man up": Sport, Masculinity and African American Communities (Bruce Lee Hazelwood)
Part IV: Media and
Identity Construction: Media, Myth and Perception in Football Recruiting (Travis R. Bell)
The (African) American Dream: Spectacle and Post-Racial Teleology in U.S. Sports Films (Nathan Kalman-Lamb)
Rethinking Sports Fetishism in Contemporary African American
(Daniel Haxall)
About the Contributors
Index
