Sports and the Racial Divide

by Lomax, Michael E.

• ISBN13: 9781604730142
• ISBN10: 1604730145
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-08-08
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi

Summary

With essays by Ron Briley, Michael Ezra, Sarah K. Fields, Billy Hawkins, Jorge Iber, Kurt Kemper, Michael E. Lomax, Samuel O. Regalado, Richard Santillan, and Maureen SmithThis anthology explores the intersection of race, ethnicity, and sports and analyzes the forces that shaped the African American and Latino sports experience in post-World War II America. Contributors reveal that sports often reinforced dominant ideas about race and racial supremacy but that at other times sports became a platform for addressing racial and social injustices.The African American sports experience represented the continuation of the ideas of Black Nationalism--racial solidarity, black empowerment, and a determination to fight against white racism. Three of the essayists discuss the protest at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. In football, baseball, basketball, boxing, and track and field, African American athletes moved toward a position of group strength, establishing their own values and simultaneously rejecting the cultural norms of whites. Among Latinos, athletic achievement inspired community celebrations and became a way to express pride in ethnic and religious heritages as well as a diversion from the work week. Sports was a means by which leadership and survival tactics were developed and used in the political arena and in the fight for justice.Michael E. Lomax is associate professor of health and sport studies at the University of Iowa and the author ofBlack Baseball Entrepreneurs, 1860-1901: Operating by Any Means Necessary. Kenneth L. Shropshire is David W. Hauck Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and director of the school's Sports Business initiative.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. IX
Introduction: The African American and Latino Athlete in Post-World War II America: A Historical Review	p. XIII
New Orleans, New Football League, and New Attitudes: The American Football League All-Star Game Boycott, January 1965	p. 3
Battles for Control over Muhammad Ali's Career and Image	p. 23
Bedazzle Them with Brilliance, Bamboozle Them with Bull: Harry Edwards, Black Power, and the Revolt of the Black Athlete Revisited	p. 55
The Black Panther Party and the Revolt of the Black Athlete: Sport and Revolutionary Consciousness	p. 90
Dark Spirits: The Emergence of Cultural Nationalism on the Sidelines and on Campus	p. 105
Title IX and African American Female Athletes	p. 126
Mexican Baseball Teams in the Midwest, 1916-1965: The Politics of Cultural Survival and Civil Rights	p. 146
Roberto Clemente: Images, Identity, and Legacy	p. 166
The Pigskin Pulpito: A Brief Overview of the Experiences of Mexican American High School Football Coaches in Texas	p. 178
Conclusion: A Contested Terrain: The Sporting Experiences of African American and Latino Athletes in Post-World War II America	p. 196
Contributors	p. 209
Index	p. 213
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