Men's College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality

Gregory Kaliss is Associate Editor, Volume 9 of the Frederick Law Olmsted Papers, and Research Associate in American Studies at Franklin & Marshall College.

"Kaliss examines five stories of pioneering African American athletes... Explaining how the athletes sought to achieve full citizenship through their athletic achievements... He argues that their responses reveal much more than just what occurred on the playing field... Summing Up: Recommended." Choice, December 2012 "[A] careful study of five significant episodes in the racial integration of college football and basketball... The five episodes selected by the author fit together nicely in chronological, geographical, and thematic progression... Kaliss deserves praise for attempting to do more than merely chronicle the triumphs and travails of racial pioneers...[T]he book is a timely reminder that racial barriers in athletics were not exclusive to the South, and it makes a useful contribution to the study of college sports integration."--American History Review, December 2013

• Introduction - College Sports, Fair Play, and Black Masculinity; 1 - "Our Own 'Roby'" and "The Dark Cloud": Paul Robeson at Rutgers, 1915-1919; 2 - "Harbingers of Progress" and "The Gold Dust Trio": Washington, Strode, Robinson and the 1939 UCLA Football Team; 3 - "A First-Class Gentleman" and "That Big N----r": Wilt Chamberlain at the University of Kansas, 1955-1958; 4 - "Our Colored Boy" and "Fine Black Athletes": Charlie Scott at the University of North Carolina, 1965-1970; 5 - "Those Nigras" and "Men Again": Bear Bryant, John Mitchell, and Wilbur Jackson at the University of Alabama, 1969-1973; Conclusion - What We Talk About When We Talk About Sports; Bibliography.