Out of the Shadows : A Biographical History of African American Athletes

by Wiggins, David K.

• ISBN13: 9781557288264
• ISBN10: 1557288267
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Arkansas Pr

Summary

The original essays in the comprehensive collection examine the lives and sports of famous and not-so-famous African American men and women athletes from the nineteenth century to today. Here are twenty insightful biographies that furnish perspectives on the changing status of these athletes and how the changes mirrored the transformation of sport, American society, and civil rights legislation. Out of the Shadon's shows us athletes struggling to make it in a Jim Crow society--Jimmy Winkfield in horse racing, Marshall Taylor in bicycling, William Henry Lewis in football, and Jack Johnson--and those achieving success on an international stage while suffering segregation at home--Ora Washington (tennis), Satchel Paige, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Alice Coachman (track and field), and Jackie Robinson. In the twentieth century athletes saw opportunities to fight for civil rights through their performances as was the case with Althea Gibson (tennis), Wilma Rudolph, Bill Russell, Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, and Arthur Ashe. Today's successful African American athletes, such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Venus and Serena Williams, deal with issues of race and celebrity culture. The contributors to this collection are some of today's best authors of sports history, including Gerald Early, Anthony O. Edmonds, Gerald R. Gems, and Donald Spivey. Together, these biographies not only provide insightful analyses of the athletes' careers, they tell a fascinating two-hundred-year-long story about the complex relationship between race and sport in America and how some gifted individuals achieved success on the playing field despite difficult living conditions and economic circumstances.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
I Striving for Athletic Success in a Jim Crow Society
1 Jimmy Winkfield: The "Black Maestro" of the Racetrack
SUSAN HAMBURGER	7	(14)
2 Marshall "Major" Taylor: The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World
ANDREW RITCHIE	21	(18)
3 The Strange Career of William Henry Lewis
GREGORY BOND	39	(20)
4 Jack Johnson and the Quest for Racial Respect
GERALD R. GEMS	59	(20)
II Fashioning a World of Sport behind Segregated Walls and on the International Stage
5 Ora Washington: The First Black Female Athletic Star
PAMELA GRUNDY	79	(14)
6 Satchel Paige's Struggle for Selfhood in the Era of Jim Crow
DONALD SPIVEY	93	(18)
7 Jesse Owens: Leading Man in Modern American Tales of Racial Progress and Limits
MARK DYRESON	111	(22)
8 Joe Louis, Boxing, and American Culture
ANTHONY O. EDMONDS	133	(14)
9 Alice Coachman: Quiet Champion of the 1940's
JENNIFER H. LANSBURY	147	(16)
10 Jackie Robinson: Racial Pioneer and Athlete Extraordinaire in an Era of Change
MICHAEL E. LOMAX	163	(24)
III The Fight for Civil Rights through Athletic Performance, Persuasion, and Protest
11 "Jackie Robinson without the Charm": The Challenges of Being Althea Gibson
MARY JO FESTLE	187	(20)
12 Wilma Rudolph: The Making of an Olympic Icon
WAYNE WILSON	207	(16)
13 Bill Russell: Pioneer and Champion of the Sixties
MAUREEN M. SMITH	223	(18)
14 Jim Brown: Superlative Athlete, Screen Star, Social Activist
J. THOMAS JABLE	241	(22)
15 Muhammad Ali: Flawed Rebel with a Cause
GERALD EARLY	263	(16)
16 "The Quiet Militant": Arthur Ashe and Black Athletic Activism
DAMION THOMAS	279	(22)
IV Race, Sport, and Celebrity Culture
17 Bound by Blackness or Above It? Michael Jordan and the Paradoxes of Post—Civil Rights American Race Relations
DOUGLAS HARTMANN	301	(24)
18 "Race," Family, and Nation: The Significance of Tiger Woods in American Culture
S.W. POPE	325	(28)
19 "Ghetto Cinderellas": Venus and Serena Williams and the Discourse of Racism
R. PIERRE RODGERS AND ELLEN B. DROGIN RODGERS	353	(20)
Notes	373	(56)
Bibliographical Note	429	(10)
Contributors	439	(6)
Index	445