ABOUT THIS BOOK

The original essays in this comprehensive collection examine the lives and sports of famous and not-so-famous African American male and female athletes from the nineteenth century to today. Here are twenty insightful biographies that furnish perspectives on the changing status of these athletes and how these changes mirrored the transformation of sports, American society, and civil rights legislation. Some of the athletes discussed include Marshall Taylor (bicycling), William Henry Lewis (football), Jack Johnson, Satchel Paige, Jesse Owens, Joe Lewis, Alice Coachman (track and field), Althea Gibson (tennis), Wilma Rudolph, Bill Russell, Jim Brown, Arthur Ashe, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Venus and Serena Williams.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

David K. Wiggins, a leading authority on African American sports, is a professor and director of the School of Recreation, Health, and Tourism at George Mason University. He is the editor of a number of books in the field, including The Unlevel Playing Field and Sport and the Color Line, both edited with Patrick Miller, and is the author of Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White World.

REVIEWS

“Edited by the U.S.’s foremost historian of African American athletes. . . the 19 contributors are as varied as the athletes. Some are members of the ‘sports-historical establishment,’ others are at the start of their careers, and one, Gerald Early, is a distinguished literary scholar. Wiggins chose them well. They meet his high standards. . . . Essential.” —Allen Guttmann, Choice Magazine “This book examines 100 years of race relations, using 20 athletes as a lens on American society. Some names are familiar—Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson—but others are mostly unknown today—Jimmy Winkfield, Ora Washington. Each entry contains information about the athlete’s career and post-career life, as well as an analysis of the role race played in the individual’s success. . . . Should find a place in larger libraries.” —School Library Journal “Wiggins has done a splendid job of rounding up first-rate historians. . . . As probably the foremost authority on African American sports, Wiggins has provided the connective tendons to hold the body of essays together. . . . Job well done.” —Randy Roberts, author of Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hopes “Highly recommended. . . . The diversity in terms of time periods and personalities should help attract a broad readership. . . . Strongly grounded in research, with a mixture of historical facts and scholarly analysis. . . . It will be well received.” —Charles K. Ross, author of Outside the Line and editor of Race and Sport.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Preface	000
	I	Striving for Athletic Success in a Jim Crow Society
	1	Jimmy Winkfield: The "Black Maestro" of the Racetrack
	Susan Hamburger	000
	2	Marshall "Major" Taylor: The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World
	Andrew Ritchie	000
	3	The Strange Career of William Henry Lewis
	Gregory Bond	000
	4	Jack Johnson and the Quest for Racial Respect
	Gerald R. Gems	000
	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	000
	6	Satchel Paige's Struggle for Selfhood in the Era of Jim Crow
	Donald Spivey	000
	7	Jesse Owens: Leading Man in Modern American Tales of Racial Progress and 
Limits
	Mark Dyreson	000
	8	Joe Louis, Boxing, and American Culture
	Anthony O. Edmonds	000
	9	Alice Coachman: Quiet Champion of the 1940s
	Jennifer H. Lansbury	000
	10	Jackie Robinson: Racial Pioneer and Athlete Extraordinaire in an Era of 
Change
	Michael E. Lomax	000
	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	000
	12	Wilma Rudolph: The Making of an Olympic Icon
	Wayne Wilson	000
	13	Bill Russell: Pioneer and Champion of the Sixties
	Maureen M. Smith	000
	14	Jim Brown: Superlative Athlete, Screen Star, Social Activist
	J. Thomas Jable	000
	15	Muhammad Ali: Flawed Rebel with a Cause
	Gerald Early	000
	16	"The Quiet Militant": Arthur Ashe and Black Athletic Activism
	Damion Thomas	000
	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	000
	18	"Race," Family, and Nation: The Significance of Tiger Woods in American 
Culture
	S. W. Pope	000
	19	"Ghetto Cinderellas": Venus and Serena Williams and the Discourse of 
Racism
	R. Pierre Rodgers and Ellen B. Drogin Rodgers	000
Notes	000
Bibliographical Note	000
Contributors	000
Index	000

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