LEADER 03649nam 2200649 a 450 001 9910781652303321 005 20230126202505.0 010 $a0-674-25381-7 010 $a0-674-06086-5 024 7 $a10.4159/harvard.9780674060869 035 $a(CKB)2550000000048077 035 $a(EBL)3300968 035 $a(OCoLC)754841337 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000538532 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11314676 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000538532 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10558641 035 $a(PQKB)11527073 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3300968 035 $a(DE-B1597)178311 035 $a(OCoLC)979746507 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674060869 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3300968 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10492934 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000048077 100 $a20101118d2011 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 12$aA level playing field$b[electronic resource] $eAfrican American athletes and the republic of sports /$fGerald L. Early 210 $aCambridge, Mass. $cHarvard University Press$d2011 215 $a1 online resource (288 p.) 225 0 $aAlain Locke Lecture Series 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-674-05098-3 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 233-263). 327 $apt. 1. Leveling the playing field -- pt. 2. Heroism and the republic of sports. 330 $aAs Americans, we believe there ought to be a level playing field for everyone. Even if we don't expect to finish first, we do expect a fair start. Only in sports have African Americans actually found that elusive level ground. But at the same time, black players offer an ironic perspective on the athlete-hero, for they represent a group historically held to be without social honor.In his first new collection of sports essays since Tuxedo Junction (1989), the noted cultural critic Gerald Early investigates these contradictions as they play out in the sports world and in our deeper attitudes toward the athletes we glorify. Early addresses a half-century of heated cultural issues ranging from integration to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Writing about Jackie Robinson and Curt Flood, he reconstructs pivotal moments in their lives and explains how the culture, politics, and economics of sport turned with them. Taking on the subtexts, racial and otherwise, of the controversy over remarks Rush Limbaugh made about quarterback Donovan McNabb, Early restores the political consequence to an event most commentators at the time approached with predictable bluster. The essays in this book circle around two perennial questions: What other, invisible contests unfold when we watch a sporting event? What desires and anxieties are encoded in our worship of (or disdain for) high-performance athletes?These essays are based on the Alain Locke lectures at Harvard University's Du Bois Institute. 606 $aAfrican American athletes$xHistory 606 $aSports$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aDiscrimination in sports$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aAfrican American athletes$xSocial conditions 615 0$aAfrican American athletes$xHistory. 615 0$aSports$xHistory. 615 0$aDiscrimination in sports$xHistory. 615 0$aAfrican American athletes$xSocial conditions. 676 $a796.092/2 700 $aEarly$b Gerald Lyn$01571739 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910781652303321 996 $aA level playing field$93846262 997 $aUNINA