Racism in Sports
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color.”
Colin Kaepernick
Read
A Disparaging Video Prompts Explosive Fallout Within ESPN
The New York Times, July 2021
Olympics bans swim caps preferred by Black athletes with natural hair
Today, July 2021
N.F.L. Concussion Settlement
Will Drop Race-Based
Assessment for Payouts
The New York Times, June 2021
Athletes Will Never
Be Quiet Again
The Atlantic, May 2021
George Floyd changed the
world of athlete activism
The Washington Post, May 2021
The IOC Is Now Daring
Olympic Athletes to Protest
The Nation, May 2021
M.L.B. Pulls All-Star Game
From Georgia in Response
to Voting Law
The New York Times, April 2021
Black football agents face
another hurdle: Convincing White players to sign with them
The Washington Post, April 2021
OL Reign Unveil 2021
Jerseys Featuring Black
Future Co-op Fund
OL Reign, April 2021
Hard Truths Deep Dive:
Racism in Sports
Axios, March 2021
MLB, NBA, and NHL Games
Are Canceled in the Twin Cities
The Nation, April 2021
With ‘Black Lives Matter’ shirts
at issue, these prep athletes experienced the tension of activism
The Washington Post, March 2021
Morghan Chambers Makes
Some People Uncomfortable
Medium, March 2021
Why Pro Sports Should
Skip the National Anthem
The Atlantic, Feb. 2021
The University of Texas Will Confront Its History, but Not Its Donors
The Atlantic, March 2021
Curt Flood Belongs in
the Hall of Fame
The Atlantic, Feb. 2021
Kelly Loeffler Just Lost Her
WNBA Team to a Player She
Refused to Meet
The Nation, March 2021
WNBA improves on already stellar racial and gender hiring practices
ESPN, Feb. 2021
Black Coaches See the Limits
of the NFL’s Racial Reckoning
The Atlantic, Feb. 2021
How the court-martial of Jackie Robinson nearly derailed his
baseball career
The Undefeated, Jan. 2021
How the WNBA
helped flip Georgia blue
Vox, Jan. 2021
So much for progress on
inclusive hiring in the NFL
The Undefeated, Jan. 2021
Hank Aaron, Home Run King Who Defied Racism, Dies at 86
The New York Times, Jan. 2021
2020 in review: Sue Bird, Alysha
Clark and Dee Gordon among
those who led Seattle athlete activism
The Seattle Times, Dec. 2020
MLB can add Negro Leagues to official records but can never
change what it did to Black players
ESPN, Dec. 2020
Why Coaching for
Social Justice Matters
Inside Higher Ed, Dec. 2020
Naomi Osaka: Athletes, Speak Up
The New York Times, Dec. 2020
A timeline of Colin Kaepernick’s protests against police brutality,
four years after they began
The Washington Post, Aug 2020
How the ‘Black Godfather’ changed baseball legend Hank Aaron’s life
The Undefeated, June 2019
Colin Kaepernick explains why
he sat during national anthem
NFL.COM, Aug. 2016
Jon Gruden Just Put It in Writing
The Atlantic, Oct. 2021
Baseball and Black
American Memory
AAIHS, Oct. 2021
How the sports world failed when three Black women needed help
The 19th, July 2021
Brian Flores Levels a Lawsuit
Against the NFL for
Discriminatory Practices
The Nation, Feb. 2022
Senior NFL official: ‘Double
standard’ for Black coaches when
it comes to keeping jobs
The Washington Post, Jan. 2022
Eldridge Dickey, the first
Black quarterback drafted in the
first round, never got his shot
The Washington Post, Nov. 2021
Articles
Changes to Settlement
Could Aid Thousands of
Black Players’ Claims
The New York Times, March 2022
Without the Wonderlic, the
N.F.L. Finds Other Ways to Test Football I.Q.
The New York Times, March 2022
ESPN Rebrands Black-Focused Undefeated Site as Andscape
The New York Times, Feb. 2022
Books
Please buy from a black-owned bookstore (click here for a list), your local independent bookstore, or from the Bookshop link provided.
The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism
Howard Bryant, 2018
A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team
Arshay Cooper, 2020
The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson: The Baseball Legend's Battle for Civil Rights During World War II
Michael Lanning, 2020
Forty Million Dollar
Slaves: The Rise, Fall,
and Redemption of
the Black Athlete
William Rhoden, 2007
I Never Had It Made:
The Autobiography of Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson, 2003
Sporting Blackness: Race, Embodiment, and Critical Muscle Memory on Screen
Samantha Sheppard, 2020
Listen
Around the Rim
Girls of Color And Title IX
The Black Athlete
The history of the black athlete
in a contemporary conversation.
Edge of Sports
Hidden History: The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Athlete
50 min.
Edge of Sports
NFL Pro Bowler Michael Bennett
on the Power of Protest
39 min.
Hour 4: Racism in Sports
A Conversation about Modern Day
Sports and Inherent Racism
42 min.
Mouthpeace with Michael Bennett & Pele Bennett
Be Yourself. Change
The World. with Laila Ali
48 min.
NPR
How Black Players Propelled Cleveland's Baseball Team To
Win The 1948 World Series
5 min.
Only a Game
A Conversation On Sports,
Racism And Police Brutality
55 min.
Only a Game
Special: Sports, Racism and
The Myth Of Meritocracy
49 min.
Racism at Work
Racism in sport: does football
hold a mirror up to society?
1 hour 15 min.
The Black Athlete
George Floyd and the Criminalization of the Black Athletic Body
55 min.
Watch
'Reality vs. Perception':
A Poem By Tyler Lockett
Seahawks Tyler Lockett delivers a powerful original poem about the state of social injustice in America with help from other NFL players
(2 min.)
Perceived Racial
Differences in Athletic Ability
Clip from "Race the
Power of an Illusion"
(2 min.)
Uncomfortable Conversations
with a Black Man
NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, sits with Emmanuel Acho
(2 parts, 19 min. total)
Race, Sports & Politics
Focuses on the race-based athletic activism that emerged in the wake
of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis in the summer of 2020.
(1 hour 43 min.)
42
Baseball player Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play in Major League Baseball
(2 hour 8 min.)
Ali
The film focuses on ten years in the life of the boxer Muhammad Ali
from 1964 to 1974,
(2 hour 36 min.)
Shut Up and Dribble:
Sports, Politics and Progress
with David Zirin
(59 min.)
Colin in Black and White
Colin Kaepernick narrates this drama series recounting his formative years navigating race, class and culture while aspiring for greatness.
Other Resources
Black Girl
Hockey Club
Black Players
for Change
Black Women's
Player Collective
The Players
Alliance