Outside the Lines: African Americans and the Integration of the National Football League

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"An important analysis for all who care about the African American experience in professional sports. Significant not only for the history it tells, but for the questions it raises about race relations in football as an industry and as a United States institution ."
-Michael E. Lomax
"Charles Ross' stellar research clearly demonstrates that the African American struggle for merit and equality not only extends to the playing field but has, in fact, long defined the game of professional football. A must read for students of the game, from casual gridiron enthusiasts to scholars alike."
-C. Keith Harrison
Outside the Lines traces how sports laid a foundation for social change long before the judicial system formally recognized the inequalities of racial separation. Integrating sports teams to include white and black athletes alike, the National Football League served as a microcosmic fishbowl of the highs and lows, the trials and triumphs, of racial integration.

Author Biography: Charles K. Ross is Assistant Professor of African American Studies and History at the University of Mississippi.

SYNOPSIS

The 1904 to 1962 tale of the participation of African- Americans in the National Football League. Not drawing any grand conclusions, Ross (Afro-American studies and history, U. of Mississippi) tells stories of men like Charles Follis who played professionally until the growing commercialization of the sport allowed the white owners to ban African- Americans during World War II. The work ends with a discussion of the trends that led to the reintegration of the sport in the early 1960s. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

Baltimore Sun

offers an interesting recitation of the on-again-off-again participation of blacks in the early years of pro football.

ACCREDITATION