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Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand : : African American Athletes and the Fight for Social Justice

Schron, Bob. Book - 2020 796.089 Sc, Black Studies 796.089 Sc, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Sports & Recreation / Sports / Miscellaneous 3 On Shelf No requests on this item Community Rating: 4 out of 5

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Call Number: 796.089 Sc, Black Studies 796.089 Sc, Adult Book / Nonfiction / Sports & Recreation / Sports / Miscellaneous
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length Call Number Checkout Length Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor
4-week checkout
796.089 Sc 4-week checkout On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor
4-week checkout
Black Studies 796.089 Sc 4-week checkout On Shelf
Westgate Adult Books
4-week checkout
Adult Book / Nonfiction / Sports & Recreation / Sports / Miscellaneous 4-week checkout On Shelf

"A decade-by-decade account of African-American athlete activism told through the stories of prominent athletes who fought for racial or gender equality, often at the expense of their reputation or their ability to practice their sport. From Jesse Owens's performance in the 1936 Olympics to Colin Kaepernick's controversial kneel during the national anthem, this book show that the actions of these brave men and women are living history, part of an arc of progress on civil rights that is ongoing and far from over"-- Provided by publisher.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

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Summary / Annotation
Table of Contents
Excerpt
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Great book submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on June 15, 2021, 10:14pm This is an excellent concise work touching on the history of Black athletes and activism over the last hundred years and covering a wide range of sports including track & field, boxing, baseball, basketball, tennis, and football. The author addresses intersectionality through athletes who took on women’s and LGBT issues and HIV/AIDS activism as well. I love that Schron linked athlete-leaders to each other, showing how each new generation was inspired by the modeling or actual relationships they had with previous athlete-leaders and Civil Rights leaders. He covers enough ground that he clearly can’t go deep into anyone’s story, but he still gives both personal and social context to many, many different individuals, some of whose names I knew, and some who were new to me. An outstanding dip in, whether you are interested in sports, in leadership, in social justice, or in African-American or just plain American history.

One of Schron’s points is that leadership inspires others to change and act, including getting white people to notice and care that issues affecting the Black community need addressing. My only quibble with the book is that the very last quote (second to last paragraph of the whole book) is a lengthy statement by a white NBA player on just that topic. But still… in an entire book that is about raising the voices of Black athletes, why oh why did the white author give the last word to a white guy? C’mon… you can do better than that!

But the book is excellent, and should be read. Highly recommended.

Cover image for Taking a knee, taking a stand : : African American athletes and the fight for social justice


PUBLISHED
Watertown, MA : Charlesbridge, 2020.
Year Published: 2020
Description: 182 pages ; 24 cm.
Language: English
Format: Book

ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
9781623545376
1623545374

SUBJECTS
African American athletes -- History.
African American political activists.
Racism -- United States -- History.
SPORTS & RECREATION / General.