Derrick E. White – författare

The Challenge of Blackness examines the history and legacy of the Institute of the Black World (IBW), one of the most important Black Freedom Struggle organisations to emerge in the aftermath of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.A think tank based in Atlanta, the IBW sought to answer King's question ""Where do we go from here?"" Its solution was to organize a broad array of leading Black activists, scholars, and intellectuals to find ways to combine the emerging academic discipline of Black Studies with the Black political agenda. Throughout the 1970s, debates over race and class in the Unites States grew increasingly hostile, and the IBW's approach was ultimately unable to challenge the growing conservatism. By using the IBW as the lens through which to view these turbulent years, Derrick White provides an exciting new interpretation of the immediate post-civil rights years in America.

During the four decades separating the death of Martin Luther King and the election of Barack Obama, the meaning of civil rights became increasingly complex. Civil rights leaders made great strides in breaking down once-impermeable racial barriers, but they also suffered many political setbacks in their attempts to remedy centuries of discrimination. Complicating matters, the conservative turn in American political life transformed the national conversation about race and civil rights in surprising ways.This pioneering collection of essays explores the paradoxical nature of civil rights politics in the years following the 1960s civil rights movement by chronicling the ways in which presidential politics both advanced and constrained the quest for racial equality in the United States.

Black college football began during the nadir of African American life after the Civil War. The first game occurred in 1892, a little less than four years before the Supreme Court ruled segregation legal in Plessy v. Ferguson. In spite of Jim Crow segregation, Black colleges produced some of the best football programs in the country. They mentored young men who became teachers, preachers, lawyers, and doctors — not to mention many other professions — and transformed Black communities. But when higher education was integrated, the programs faced existential challenges as predominately white institutions steadily set about recruiting their student athletes and hiring their coaches. Blood, Sweat, and Tears explores the legacy of Black college football, with Florida A&M's Jake Gaither as its central character, one of the most successful coaches in its history. A paradoxical figure, Gaither led one of the most respected Black college football programs, yet many questioned his loyalties during the height of the civil rights movement. Among the first broad-based histories of Black college athletics, Derrick E. White's sweeping story complicates the heroic narrative of integration and grapples with the complexities and contradictions of one of the most important sources of Black pride in the twentieth century.

In 1969, James Owens (1951–2016) made sports history as the first Black football player at Auburn University—a significant milestone that marked the beginning of the end of segregation in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Owens, a running back, was an exemplary athlete who battled racism and immense scrutiny during his time at Auburn. Yet his strength, his faith, and his family's support emboldened him to persevere and break the color barrier, which ultimately opened the door for other Black athletes._x000D_Just Follow Me: James Owens and the Integration of Southeastern Conference Football chronicles Owens's remarkable life and career—from growing up in Fairfield, Alabama, to his first day on the gridiron as an Auburn Tiger, his work as a coach and pastor, and his later years when he was plagued by heart issues. Through personal interviews with Owens and his former teammates, friends, and coaches, authors Thom Gossom Jr. and Sam Heys reveal the struggles faced by Owens and his contemporaries both on and off the field, all within the broader historical context of the civil rights movement. Just Follow Me is an honest, inspiring account of not only a trailblazing football player but also a resilient and influential leader in the sports community.

In 1969, James Owens (1951–2016) made sports history as the first Black football player at Auburn University—a significant milestone that marked the beginning of the end of segregation in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Owens, a running back, was an exemplary athlete who battled racism and immense scrutiny during his time at Auburn. Yet his strength, his faith, and his family's support emboldened him to persevere and break the color barrier, which ultimately opened the door for other Black athletes._x000D_Just Follow Me: James Owens and the Integration of Southeastern Conference Football chronicles Owens's remarkable life and career—from growing up in Fairfield, Alabama, to his first day on the gridiron as an Auburn Tiger, his work as a coach and pastor, and his later years when he was plagued by heart issues. Through personal interviews with Owens and his former teammates, friends, and coaches, authors Thom Gossom Jr. and Sam Heys reveal the struggles faced by Owens and his contemporaries both on and off the field, all within the broader historical context of the civil rights movement. Just Follow Me is an honest, inspiring account of not only a trailblazing football player but also a resilient and influential leader in the sports community.

Jim Brown, a first-round NFL draft pick, played fullback for the Cleveland Browns until 1965. Born in 1936 in Georgia, Brown was a child of the Great Migration and faced racial discrimination throughout his football career. His desire to work toward civil rights led him to form the Negro Industrial and Economic Union (NIEU) in 1966, later known as the Black Economic Union (BEU). The Union combined elements of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements with a call for African Americans to accumulate green power by participating in the US's economic infrastructure through entrepreneurship and government programs._x000D_In More Than an Athlete, author Robert A. Bennett III explores the BEU as part of Jim Brown's legacy to answer larger questions about the role of Black athletes as activists and how the response to these actions impacted their careers and movements they supported. Set in the years following the famed 1964 meeting of Jim Brown, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, and Sam Cooke, the book examines how Black professional athletes leveraged their social capital in the fight for Civil Rights throughout the 1960s. Bennett provides life sketches for important BEU figures, highlights the experiences that shaped their political consciousness, and weaves in the Union's mission alongside ongoing organizing efforts of the era._x000D_A compelling analysis about the intersection of fame, sports, and race, More Than an Athlete is a thoughtful look at professional athletes' sustained contributions to social movements.