Sports and the Racial Divide: African American and Latino Experience in an Era of Change

by Michael E. Lomax (Editor), Kenneth L. Shropshire (Foreword by)

Overview

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 Smith

This 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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617030468
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	03/11/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	262
Sales rank:	976,959
File size:	497 KB

About the Author

Michael E. Lomax is former professor of sport history at the University of Iowa. He is author or editor of several books, including Major League Baseball between World War II and the Korean War, 1945-1951. His second book, Black Baseball Entrepreneurs, 1902-1931: Negro National and Eastern Colored Leagues, won a book award from the Society for American Baseball Research.
Michael E. Lomax is former professor of sport history at the University of Iowa. He is author or editor of several books, including Major League Baseball between World War II and the Korean War, 1945-1951 and Sports and the Racial Divide: African American and Latino Experience in an Era of Change, the latter published by University Press of Mississippi. His second book, Black Baseball Entrepreneurs, 1902-1931: Negro National and Eastern Colored Leagues, won a book award from the Society for American Baseball Research.

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