Attucks!: How Crispus Attucks Basketball Broke Racial Barriers and Jolted the World

by Phillip Hoose Narrated by Brad Sanders

Overview

"Narrator Brad Sanders's baritone voice bestows deserved gravitas on this remarkable story...Hoops and history fans won't be the only ones appreciating this inspirational listen." - AudioFile Magazine

Attucks! is the true story of the all-black high school basketball team that broke the color barrier in segregated 1950s Indiana, masterfully told by National Book Award winner Phil Hoose.

By winning the state high school basketball championship in 1955, ten teens from an Indianapolis school meant to be the centerpiece of racially segregated education in the state shattered the myth of their inferiority. Their brilliant coach had fashioned an unbeatable team from a group of boys born in the South and raised in poverty. Anchored by the astonishing Oscar Robertson, a future college and NBA star, the Crispus Attucks Tigers went down in history as the first state champions from Indianapolis and the first all-black team in U.S. history to win a racially open championship tournament-an integration they had forced with their on-court prowess.

From native Hoosier and award-winning author Phillip Hoose comes this true story of a team up against impossible odds, making a difference when it mattered most.

This title has Common Core connections.

Editorial Reviews

NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile

Narrator Brad Sanders’s baritone voice bestows deserved gravitas on this remarkable true story of a 1950s all-black high school’s victory in the Indiana state basketball championship. Sanders’s steady reading allows for the wider context of American racial injustice to take center court. His delivery reflects the real-life personalities on the Attucks Tigers team, such as Coach Ray Crowe’s measured style and soon to be NBA legend Oscar Robertson's relentless drive and, later, his justified bitterness. The attitudes of Hoosier basketball fans on both sides of history are given accurate depictions. Sanders’s even-paced and straightforward account supports rather than overpowers Hoose’s well-balanced writing. Hoops and history fans won’t be the only ones appreciating this inspirational listen. E.A.N. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Publishers Weekly

★ 11/19/2018
In this rousing history of Indiana high school state basketball championships in the 1950s, Hoose (The Boys Who Challenged Hitler) explores the racism prevalent in the state and the black players who triumphed over it. Hoose chronicles the 25 years between the opening of all-black Crispus Attucks High School in 1927 and its first opportunity to play in the finals of the state tournament, laying bare the ugly forces the players had to overcome: the Ku Klux Klan, the poverty that made owning a basketball a pipe dream for most black kids, inadequate school facilities, biased referees, condescending civic authorities who cheated the state champions out of the parade a white team would have enjoyed, and more. Hoose balances this exposé of basketball’s racist history with thrilling game accounts, character insight, and great sympathy. Oscar Robertson may be the best-known player from this era, but Crispus Attucks’s basketball coach, Ray Crowe, who molded the teams, becomes the real hero in this masterfully told story. Archival material and sources are included. Ages 12–18. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

Hoose does a brilliant job of portraying the surrounding historical context, exploring the migration of black families from the South to Indiana, showing how Jim Crow practices were just as present in the North as in the South, and describing the deep groundswell of support for basketball in Indiana. . ..Attucks! doesn't pretend that we've outlived the racism of the American past, all the while showing readers how being grounded in one's self-worth and committed to the pursuit of excellence can have a lasting impact on a community. A powerful, awe-inspiring basketball-driven history.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Excessively readable, this should appeal to sports fans and those looking for a good book about the civil rights era. Exemplary notes and sources will push readers—adults included—to learn even more.” —Booklist, starred review

“The evolving fast-break style of play, the local rivalries, and the sheer prowess of individual players guarantee a compelling read, but the story of how a mini dynasty of high school players turned the tables on segregationists extends interest beyond sports fans. . .When kids think they’ve reached the end of their civil rights era education, hand them this.” —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, starred review

“Hoose balances this exposé of basketball’s racist history with thrilling game accounts, character insight, and great sympathy.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“With sharp insight and an engaging writing style, the author relates how high school basketball engulfed the way of life in different Indiana communities and was instrumental in dismantling parts of segregation. Numerous black-and-white photos and newspaper articles supplement this exceedingly engaging work. . .A great purchase for YA nonfiction collections.” —School Library Journal

“Hoose demonstrates how young people can affect history. . .[A] thought-provoking volume.” —The Horn Book

“A fresh, revelatory look at a familiar story that is central to understanding Indianapolis.” —The Indianapolis Star

“I’d always been a fan of Oscar Robertson, arguably the best basketball player of the twentieth century, but until I read Attucks!—the thrilling, moving, enlightening story of his roots in deeply segregated Indianapolis—I had no idea of how important a life he had led.” —Robert Lipsyte, author of SportsWorld: An American Dreamland

School Library Journal

10/01/2018
Gr 7 Up—At one time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stated that NBA Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson was "the greatest player to ever play the game of basketball." In this well-researched and skillfully written account, Hoose discusses the high school career of Robertson and how his all-black high school overcame tremendous odds in winning the state championship in 1955 and 1956. These wins were historic because it was the first all-black school in the country to win a statewide basketball championship—and it was the first time a team from Indianapolis had ever won. With sharp insight and an engaging writing style, the author relates how high school basketball engulfed the way of life in different Indiana communities and was instrumental in dismantling parts of segregation. Numerous black-and-white photos and newspaper articles supplement this exceedingly engaging work. VERDICT A great purchase for YA nonfiction collections.—Jeanette Lambert, formerly at Nashville-Davidson County Schools, TN

NOVEMBER 2018 - AudioFile

Narrator Brad Sanders’s baritone voice bestows deserved gravitas on this remarkable true story of a 1950s all-black high school’s victory in the Indiana state basketball championship. Sanders’s steady reading allows for the wider context of American racial injustice to take center court. His delivery reflects the real-life personalities on the Attucks Tigers team, such as Coach Ray Crowe’s measured style and soon to be NBA legend Oscar Robertson's relentless drive and, later, his justified bitterness. The attitudes of Hoosier basketball fans on both sides of history are given accurate depictions. Sanders’s even-paced and straightforward account supports rather than overpowers Hoose’s well-balanced writing. Hoops and history fans won’t be the only ones appreciating this inspirational listen. E.A.N. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

★ 2018-07-30

Acclaimed author Hoose (The Boys Who Challenged Hitler, 2015, etc.) returns to his home state with the true story of the all-black high school basketball team that broke the color barrier in segregated 1950s Indianapolis, anchored by one of the greatest players of all time.

Recently honored with the NBA's Lifetime Achievement Award, Oscar Robertson is known for his accomplishments both as an athlete and advocate for NBA players. However, few know the story of how the Naptown basketball savant was able to lead his segregated high school to back-to-back state championships. Hoose does a brilliant job of portraying the surrounding historical context, exploring the migration of black families from the South to Indiana, showing how Jim Crow practices were just as present in the North as in the South, and describing the deep groundswell of support for basketball in Indiana. The inspiration for the book was the Big O himself, who told Hoose that the Ku Klux Klan "did something they couldn't foresee by making Attucks an all-black school. The city of Indianapolis integrated because we were winning." Could basketball have served as a pathway to racial progress within the Hoosier state? Attucks! doesn't pretend that we've outlived the racism of the American past, all the while showing readers how being grounded in one's self-worth and committed to the pursuit of excellence can have a lasting impact on a community.

A powerful, awe-inspiring basketball-driven history. (biographies, sources, notes, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169254839
Publisher:	Macmillan Audio
Publication date:	10/23/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

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