Black History

This detailed, authoritative account of one of the most important seasons in baseball history chronicles the day when, in 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and played first base for the Dodgers. Opening Day is being published on that 60th anniversary of the game. (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics™, a Bowker service)

Twelve African-American football players who began their careers between 1946 and 1955, including Joe Perry, George Taliaferro, and Emerson Cole, discuss what it was like to face violence and discrimination on and off the field while blazing a trail for future generations of athletes. (Publisher's Summary)

"Joe Gans captured the world lightweight title in 1902, becoming the first black American world title holder in any sport." (Provided by publisher)

In 1947, the same year Jackie Robinson broke the color line in Major League Baseball, Bill Garrett integrated college basketball. (Descriptive content provided by Syndetics™, a Bowker service)

"This text gives readers the chance to experience the unique character and personalities of the African American game of baseball in the United States, starting from the time of slavery, through the Negro Leagues and integration period, and beyond" (publisher summary)

Jackie Robinson is one of the most revered public figures of the twentieth century. He is remembered for both his athletic prowess and his strong personal character. The world knows him as the man who crossed baseball's color line, but there is much more to his legacy. At the conclusion of his baseball career, Robinson continued in his pursuit of social progress through his work as a writer. Beyond Home Plate, an anthology of Jackie Robinson's columns in the New York Post and the New York Amsterdam News, offers fresh insight into the Hall of Famer's life and work following his historic years on the baseball diamond.

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Two days before Super Bowl XLI in 2007, the game's two opposing head coaches posed with the trophy one of them would hoist after the contest. It was a fairly unremarkable event, except that both coaches were African American - a fact that was as much of a story as the game itself. As Jeremi Duru reveals in Advancing the Ball, this unique milestone resulted from the work of a determined group of people whose struggles to expand head coaching opportunities for African Americans ultimately changed the National Football League. Since the league's desegregation in 1946,opportunities had grown plentiful for African Americans as players but not as head coaches - the byproduct of the NFL's old-boy network and lingering stereotypes of blacks' intellectual inferiority. Although Major League Baseball and the NBA had, over the years, made progress in this regard, theNFL's head coaches were almost exclusively white up until the mid-1990s. Advancing the Ball chronicles the campaign of former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman John Wooten to right this wrong and undo decades of discriminatory head coach hiring practices - an initiative that finally bore fruit when he joined forces with attorneys Cyrus Mehri and Johnnie Cochran.Together with a few allies, the triumvirate galvanized the NFL's African American assistant coaches to stand together for equal opportunity and convinced the league to enact the "Rooney Rule," which stipulates that every team must interview at least one minority candidate when searching for a newhead coach. In doing so, they spurred a movement that would substantially impact the NFL and, potentially, the nation. Featuring an impassioned foreword by Coach Tony Dungy, Advancing the Ball offers an eye-opening, first-hand look at how a few committed individuals initiated a sea change in America's most popular sport and added an extraordinary new chapter to the civil rights story.

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Celebrating African America's contribution to our great national pastime, this comprehensive, lively history combines vivid narrative, visual impact, and a unique statistical component, to recreate the excitement and passion of the Negro Leagues. Packed with stories, biographical essays, scores of archival photographs and other evocative artifacts, it is an important contribution to sports history and a wonderful tribute to the players and teams who wrote a unique chapter in the annals of baseball and American culture.

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Based on new research, this is the story of how Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean, Bob Feller, and barnstorming introduced integrated baseball to America.

The racial makeup of sports in the United States serves as a classic example of racism in the 21st century. This book examines the racial disparities in sports and the continuing significance of race in 21st-century America, debunking the myth of a "postracial society."

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This collection of essays highlights the controversies surrounding racism in sports and African American athletes, examining the racial discrimination that exists in one of the most public arenas in the 21st century.

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