Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete.Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete by William C. Rhoden William C. Rhoden (born 1950) is a sports columnist for The New York Times. He has been in his current role since March 1983. Previously, he was a copy editor in the Sunday Week in Review section since October 1981 when he joined the newspaper. Crown, July 2006 $23.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-609-60120-2 This emotionally stimulating and easily debatable book takes us on a journey from what was once an impossible dream--African Americans participating in modern, major sporting events--to the contemporary sports industry, in which there is now a need to expand on opportunities of authority and control. Rhoden, a sportswriter sports·writ·er n. A person who writes about sports, especially for a newspaper or magazine. sports for The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times, writes: "Despite their fifty-year rise to prominence on the fields of integrated sports, African American athletes--male and female--still find themselves on the periphery of true power in the industry their talent built." While this a recognizable truth, his illustrations of the young black athlete's ignorance is beyond comprehension for most people. He takes us from the plantation stages of black athleticism to the present situation by discussing intriguing personalities, ranging from Tom Molineaux, a slave boxer, to the likes of basketball stars Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Rhoden explains vividly how things have changed while remaining too much the same. He is persuasive when telling the reader where we've been and where we need to go. Too many African Americans still believe the "Promised Land" is a scholarship to a white college or a "fat, professional contract." Historian John Hope Franklin Noun 1. John Hope Franklin - United States historian noted for studies of Black American history (born in 1915) Franklin , whom the author interviewed, said, "You still have more [black] men in jail than you've got in college." Proper education teaches us there is no earthly promised land. Rhoden says, "Winning means ownership: owning teams, owning networks, owning the means of communication"--and most importantly, I believe is--"owning our collective image." The author is right on target when he says that today's black athlete has little knowledge of how those who came before us made it possible for what we have today. If it became a reality, his hope that these athletes will use their influence to help create an economy useful to the community would be a home run. --Reviewed by Art Rust Jr Arthur George Rust Jr. (born October 13 1927 in Harlem), has had a successful sports career spanning half a century. It all began in Woodside, Queens in September of 1954 when WWRL Radio had the prescience to hire Art Rust Jr. . Art Rust Jr. is a renowned sports historian who lives in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. . |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion