The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documentary History of the African American Experience in Sport (Sport and Society) [Hardcover]

David K. Wiggins (Author), Patrick B. Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2003 | ISBN-10: 0252028201 | ISBN-13: 978-0252028205

This extraordinarily rich compendium of primary sources charts the significant, intertwining history of African Americans and sport. "The Unlevel Playing Field" contains more than one hundred documents - ranging chronologically from a challenge issued by prizefighter Tom Molineaux in the "London Times" in 1810, to a forward-looking interview with Harry Edwards in 2000. Introductions and head-notes provided by David K. Wiggins and Patrick B. Miller place each document in context, shaping an unrivaled narrative. Readers will find dozens of accounts taken from newspapers (both black and white), periodicals, and autobiographies, by literary and sports figures, activists, historians, and others. Frederick Douglass, W. E. B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Marcus Garvey, James Weldon Johnson, Richard Wright, A. S. "Doc" Young, Eldredge Cleaver, Nikki Giovanni, John Edgar Wideman, bell hooks, James Baldwin, Roy Wilkins, Henry Louis Gates, and Gerald Early are included here. Tracing the participation of blacks in American sport from the days of slavery, "The Unlevel Playing Field" touches on nearly every major sport and covers the full sweep of America's past. The documents include discussions of the color line in organized baseball during the Jim Crow era and athletics in the American army, as well as portraits of turn-of-the-century figures, like the champion sprint cyclist Marshall "Major" Taylor and boxers George Dixon and Jack Johnson. Other selections tackle the National Tennis Association championship, high school basketball, and debates over participation of black athletes in the 1968 Olympics, and the place of African American women in sport. Countless pioneering and modern-day African American athletes are spotlighted here, from Jackie Robinson, Jesse Owens, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, and Althea Gibson, to Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Venus and Serena Williams. A thorough and informative bibliographical essay by Wiggins and Miller concludes the volume.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The African American sports experience in America has been the subject of dozens of books that range from serious historical analyses to as-told-to autobiographies of star performers. The authors of this volume, both university history professors, do readers a great service by emphasizing the importance of original source material rather than their own interpretations of it. They provide a context for each selection and offer some opinion--why the piece is significant--but generally the reader is given the opportunity to form his or her own thoughts. The selections are presented more or less chronologically, which helps give the reader a sense of the journey African Americans have made in the sports world. Among the highlights are essays on Tom Molineaux, a boxer who competed in the early 1800s and is regarded as the first black sporting hero. There is an article by W. E. B. Du Bois, written in 1897, in which the great civil rights leader argues that sports can offer black Americans an avenue for amusement and recreation. Eldridge Cleaver weighs in on the Muhammad Ali-Floyd Patterson fights of the mid-sixties, and a transcript of Ali on television's Face the Nation is included from 1976, displaying again his remarkable media savvy and wit. Also included are articles on Arthur Ashe, racism in the NFL, and the current marketing of black athletes. A fascinating cultural document and a great addition to any general collection. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"The authors of this volume... do readers a great service by emphasizing the importance of original source material rather than their own interpretation of it. They provide a context for each selection and offer some opinion--why the piece is significant--but generally the reader is given the opportunity to form his or her own thoughts... A fascinating cultural document and a great addition to any general collection." --Booklist (starred review)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252028201
• ISBN-13: 978-0252028205
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #115,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)