Outside the lines
Subtitle: African Americans and the integration of the National Football League
By: Charles K. Ross
Publisher: New York University Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 201
Subjects: National Football League -- History; African American football players -- Biography; Discrimination in sports -- United States -- History
Genres: Biography
Description: "Although the Supreme Court did not reverse their 1896 decision of "separate but equal" in the Plessy v. Ferguson case until more than fifty years later, sports laid a foundation for social change long before our 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." "In this chronicle of black NFL athletes, Charles K. Ross has given us the story of the Jackie Robinsons of American football."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-196) and index
Table of contents: title: Kickoff : the first Black pro; title: Early Black pioneers : from Fritz Pollard to Joe Lillard; title: Invisible men : the NFL color barrier; title: Reintegration : Washington, Strode, Willis, and Motley; title: First and ten : the early years of reintegration; title: New league with old rules : "the golden decade of the 1950s"; title: Touchdown : the integration of the Washington Redskins; title: Epilogue : the state of the game