New Book Investigates Racial Issues in Sports
A Documentary History of African Americans in Athletic Competition
Sep 18, 2008
Sports and Politics
Struggles for freedom, equality, and civil rights have taken place at legislative assemblies, battlefields, and courthouses. Other struggles, however, have taken place within the world of sports. For generations, African Americans have debated the merits of sports as a means of achieving racial equality. With that conversation in mind, Wiggins and Miller have amassed this collection of documents about the presence of African Americans in sports.
A Historical View of Race in Sports
Although the majority of the book covers the mid-twentieth century, the collection begins in antebellum days. In a short but necessary chapter, the editors present descriptions of slaves’ leisure activity and discover the first cases of athletics as a way out of forced servitude. However, that opportunity was not always perceived positively, as evidenced by a Frederick Douglass article that denounced leisure activity as debilitating.
The early days of Jim Crow marked an increased interest in sports among African Americans – and a stronger relationship between race relations in sports in particular and in the United States in general. This separate-but-equal era produced the stories of baseball players who were excluded from playing in leagues with white players. In light of such discrimination, black Americans built their own sporting traditions (e.g., black college football).
Race and Sports in the Twentieth Century
The twentieth century brought with it stories of talented African American athletes, including cyclist Marshall Taylor, who eventually emigrated to France to escape American racism; boxer George Dixon, whose success in the ring led the city of New Orleans to ban interracial fighting; and Jack Johnson, the fighter whose win over James Jeffries fueled racist violence throughout the country.
Johnson was an especially noteworthy character in African American culture; hence, he was mentioned in writing by the prominent black writers of his day. Booker T. Washington cautioned Johnson not to be too boastful about his success for fear of antagonizing white Americans, while W. E. B. DuBois hailed Johnson as a folk hero.
Between the two world wars, segregation led to the creation of parallel institutions for African Americans. To illustrate this trend, Wiggins and Miller have included stories about numerous organizations, including (but not limited to) Negro League Baseball, the National American Tennis Association, and the National Negro Bowling Association.
As the first half of the twentieth century ended, opportunities for racial integration in sports gradually emerged, as evidenced when the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson in 1947. Over the next several years, Robinson, tennis champion Althea Gibson, and track star Wilma Rudolph would come to represent the potential for African American success in an integrated (albeit predominantly white) world. However, as the editors’ research reveals, integration had its drawbacks for some black people.
The Civil Rights era brought an increased political focus to the world of sports – especially, one might argue, for African Americans. Athletes debated about whether to boycott the 1964 Olympics because of the racism they faced in their own country, and college athletes adopted significant roles in campus protests. It is also during this time that boxer Cassius Clay became a cultural and political phenomenon.
Contemporary discourse about the African American athlete comprises the remainder the book. Through the voices of bell hooks, Jesse Jackson, Henry Louis Gates, Michael Wilbon, Calvin Hill, Jim Brown, and others, Wiggins and Miller illustrate contemporary concerns about the black quarterback, race relations on professional teams, the social consciousness of African American athletes, the marketing of African American athletes, and the potential hegemonic function of black athletic success – which deceives many young African Americans from pursuing other careers.
Countless critics and historians have acknowledged a parallel relationship between sports and race relations in the United States. In this compilation, Wiggins and Miller likely have gathered more support for that claim than anyone before them. Consequently, this book is a welcome addition to ongoing scholarly conversations on race, sports, and culture.
