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We Will Win the Day: The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Athlete, and the Quest for Equality (PAPERBACK)
“The most important, revelatory book at the intersection of sports and politics that I’ve read in years. I learned so much. If you think you know the entirety of this history, please trust me; you do not.” Dave Zirin, editor for The Nation and author of The Kaepernick Effect
African-American Athletes Who Made History
We Will Win the Day: The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Athlete, and the Quest for Equality
Works
Arranged thematically, the book starts with Jackie Robinson's entry into baseball when he signed with the Dodgers in 1945 and ends with the revolt of black athletes in the late 1960s, symbolized by Tommie Smith and John Carlos famously raising their clenched fists during a medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics.
I Fight For A Living: Boxing and the Battle For Black Manhood 1880 - 1915
"Moore shows how each fighter conformed to middle-class ideas of masculinity based on his own judgment of what culture would accept. Finally, he argues that African American success in the ring shattered the myth of black inferiority despite media and government efforts to defend white privilege."
MLB Could've Stopped Black Talent Drain
Seemingly every year, we ask the same question: What happened to the African-American baseball player? The answers are always the same: The game is too boring for Black kids. Or too expensive. They’d rather play football or basketball. They’d rather play football and basketball video games.
All of these explanations are valid. But they don’t tell the whole story.
Jesse Owens Ran the Wrong Race: Athletes, Activism, and the 1960s
At this year’s ESPY Awards we witnessed a powerful force, famous black athletes coming together to attack police brutality and gun violence in America and to place themselves squarely in the growing social justice movement.
"...how do you deal with professionalism in a sport where those with seemingly all the power in this economic racket—university presidents, conference presidents, and the NCAA—foolishly want to claim they are protecting amateurism?"
For Many Black NFL Coaches, Sometimes Next Is Never
“You would assume since I’m an offensive coordinator, I’d be a viable candidate for a head coach job, but it’s hard to say. I don’t know what (the owners) are thinking.” Lionel Taylor,1981