Don't Stick to Sports

Derek Catsam is professor of history and the Kathlyn Cosper Dunagan Professor in the Humanities at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin where he teaches courses on race, politics, and sports. His most recent books include Beyond the Pitch: The Spirit, Culture, and Politics of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup and Flashpoint: How a Little-Known Sporting Event Fueled America’s Anti-Apartheid Movement. Catsam has won awards, fellowships, and grants from a number of respected institutions and was named the 2016 Hugh Le May Fellow in the Humanities at Rhodes University. Catsam appeared in the Emmy award winning PBS “American Experience” documentary, Freedom Riders,and on C- Span’s Book TV.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction The Binded and the ProtectedChapter 1 “The Highest Point of the Game’s Enthusiasm”: The National Anthem, Patriotism, and the 1918 World SeriesChapter 2 Of “Dead Sparrows” and “Muscle Molls”: Gender Expectations and Women’s SportChapter 3 Jackie Robinson, The Army, and Sam Huston College: The Dilemma of the Black Athlete in 1940s Chapter 4 A Tale of Two Cities: The Integration of Professional Sports in Boston and ClevelandChapter 5 The 1960s and the Limits of “Integration” in American College SportsChapter 6 Oh Say Can You See?: Rebellion, Anger, and Contested AmericanismsChapter 7 Raised Fists, Black Shorts, and a Fallen Queen: Race, Politics, and Sex-pectations in Track and FieldChapter 8Gaps Between Ideals and Reality: Exclusion and Modern SportConclusion Taking a Knee: Sport and Politics in 21st Century AmericaBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

Protests, taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem, culture wars—increasingly, sports and politics are tangled together. While professional athletes ply their trade in front of tens of thousands of avid fans and millions of TV viewers, their personal lives and behavior are also scrutinized. Historian Catsam concludes, "Athletes who deviated from the expectation to be seen and rarely heard would find that they were very much bound and very much not protected." .... Professional athletes have the right to use their stage and celebrity to promote social justice, and calling attention to injustice is certainly not unpatriotic. A winning and widely appealing blend of biography, sports history, and the struggle for social justice.