Boston's Black Athletes: Identity, Performance, and Activism

by Robert Cvornyek (Editor), Douglas Stark (Editor), Steven Apostolov (Contribution by), Lane Demas (Contribution by), Lorenz J. Finison (Contribution by)

Overview

Sport often mirrored the racial climate of the time, but it also informed and encouraged equality on and off the field. In Boston, the Black athletic body historically represented a challenge to the city’s liberal image. Boston's Black Athletes: Identity, Performance, and Activism interprets Boston’s contested racial history through the diverse experiences of the city’s African American sports figures who directed their talent toward the struggle for social justice. Editors Robert Cvornyek and Douglas Stark and the contributors explore a variety of representative athletes, such as Kittie Knox, Louise Stokes, and Medina Dixon, that negotiated Boston’s racial boundaries at sequential moments during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to demonstrate Boston’s long and troubled racial history. The contributors’ biographical sketches are grounded in stories that have remained memorable within Boston’s Black neighborhoods. In recounting the struggles and triumphs of these individuals, this book amplifies their stories and reminds readers that Boston’s Black sports fans found a historic consistency in their athletes to shape racial identity and cultural expression.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781666909050
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	07/08/2024
Series:	Sport, Identity, and Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	314
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Robert Cvornyek is professor emeritus of history at Rhode Island College.

Douglas Stark is sports museum consultant in Barrington, Rhode Island.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Representation Matters by Chante Bonds

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: Frenchy A. Johnson: The Life and Times of America’s First Black Sports Star by Edward H. Jones

Chapter 2: Black Brahmin Birdies: Golf and the Life of George Franklin Grant (1946-1910) by Lane Demas

Chapter 3: Kittie Knox, Boston Cyclist in the 1890s: The War Between Exclusion and Inclusion by Lorenz J. Finison

Chapter 4: “Under Wraps”: The Life and Legacy of Sam Langford by Andrew Smith

Chapter 5: Major Marshall Taylor: The Worcester Whirlwind by Lorenz J. Finison and Lynne Tolman

Chapter 6: Louisa Mae Stokes Fraser: Overlooked Legend by Leslie Heaphy

Chapter 7: Lou Montgomery: Tackling Jim Crow by Susan A. Michalczyk

Chapter 8: Constructing Legends: Pumpsie Green, Race, and the Boston Red Sox by Robert E. Weir

Chapter 9: A Seasoned Rookie: Veteran Sam Jethroe Joins the Boston Braves by Stephanie Liscio

Chapter 10: Staying East of the Mississippi: Reengaging with Rodeo’s Diverse History and the New England Connection by Tracey Owens Patton

Chapter 11: Boom Boom Barbosa to Jair: Boston's Minor-League, Major-League Soccer and Black Identity by Steven Apostolov

Chapter 12: Fighting for Recognition: The Almost Legendary Career of Medina Dixon by Donna L. Halper

Afterword: (Re)centering Boston Sport History: A Biographical Glimpse of Seven African-American Female Athletes Who Are Shaping Boston Sport by Eileen Narcotta-Welp

About the Editors and Contributors

Editorial Reviews

Boston's Black Athletes is essential reading for those interested in gaining insight into the role of race and sport in one of America's most historically important cities. Through highly detailed, compelling, and thoroughly researched stories on individual Black athletes since the era of Reconstruction, the complex nature of sport in segregated and often racially volatile Boston is fully uncovered and clearly delineated.

David K. Wiggins

Boston’s Black Athletes: Identity, Performance, and Activism is a historically rich text that excavates experiences, achievements, and impacts of Black sportspersons connected to Boston and the greater New England region. A unique and appealing aspect of the text is the coverage of Black sportspersons’ contributions in a wide range of sports including basketball, hockey, football, rodeo, track and field, soccer, golf, rowing, boxing, and cycling. The analysis of local, regional, national, and international resonance of Black sportspersons is insightful and inspiring. The collection of contributors from diverse backgrounds and the intentional focus on both Black men and women across a range of sports is laudable and signifies a notable shift in sport historiographic research. This historiographic contribution debunks myths that erase Black athletic feats from the records and advances our collective understanding of the legacy of social progress has deep roots in Boston and throughout Massachusetts. This legacy has and will continue to resonate from the local level to the global level.

Joseph N. Cooper