Before Jackie Robinson: The Transcendent Role of Black Sporting Pioneers The Transcendent Role of Black Sporting Pioneers The Transcendent Role of Black Sporting Pioneers

This edited volume by Gerald R. Gems is an important introduction to black athletes, most of whose names are not well known, but whose accomplishments merit more attention. As the title suggests, the book examines the lives of twelve African American male and female athletic pioneers and provides detail and commentary which serve to enlarge the historical understanding of the African American struggle for freedom and full citizenship. In the introduction, Gems discusses the importance of the lives who are profiled. Organized chronologically, Before Jackie Robinson presents athletes who have not, in most cases, received the treatment of full‐length scholarly biographies.

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