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The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football
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.
Book Details
- Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
- Publish Date: Aug 15th, 2019
- Pages: 320
- Language: English
- Edition: undefined - undefined
- Dimensions: 9.20in - 7.80in - 1.00in - 1.30lb
- EAN: 9781469652443
- Categories: • Sports• Cultural, Ethnic & Regional - African American & Black• Coaching - Football
About the Author
Praise for this book
"Superior analysis, beautiful writing, and contextual depth. . . . [T]he best book on HBCU football I've come across."--American Historical Review
"A vital piece of scholarship that extends the field of Black sports history and convincingly demonstrates that athletic integration had significant costs, including the way it has obscured the long and rich history of Black sporting institutions."--Journal of African American History
"This fascinating social history effectively uses mid-twentieth-century Black college football as a microcosm through which one can understand the larger civil rights struggle. An important contribution to social history."--Booklist
"A valuable resource for future scholars and for anyone interested in black college football."--Library Journal
"For many college football fans, this is a great book to read as the season approaches."--Philadelphia Tribune
"White's story is not a hagiographic one of triumph that sometimes enters the genre of sport history. The ebbs and flows of Florida A&M's success, and the racial and representational reasons for such movements, are incredibly instructive for anyone interested in either black college athletics or the larger story of integration, or for anyone who appreciates a great football story."--Journal of Southern History
"White . . . does a masterful job of balancing black football and civil rights."--CHOICE
"White's research for Blood, Sweat, and Tears is extensive. . . . White supplies much needed context to the history of black college football and the swirling currents of the civil rights movement."--Sport in American History
"By centering Black college football as opposed to the racial pioneers who broke the color lines at PWIs, White intervenes in college football's history. . . . Blood, Sweat, and Tears is an important, accessible and welcome history for readers of all levels who are interested in the history of black sports and college football."--Black Perspectives
"Fascinating. . . . [A] rollicking read. . . . [E]ssential reading for anyone who wants to understand the trajectory of modern football."--Will Leitch, The Atlantic