Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball

Author:   Douglas Stark
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN:  

9781442277533


Pages:   280
Publication Date:   15 December 2018
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
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Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball


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Overview

Today, it is nearly impossible to talk about the best basketball players in America without acknowledging the accomplishments of incredibly talented black athletes like Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant. A little more than a century ago, however, the game was completely dominated by white players playing on segregated courts and teams. In Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball, Douglas Stark details the major moments that led to the sport opening its doors to black players. He charts the progress of integration from Bucky Lew—the first black professional basketball player in 1902—to the modern game played by athletes like Stephen Curry and LeBron James. Although Stark focuses on the official integration of basketball in the late 1940s, the story does not end there. Over the past 60-plus years, black athletes have continued to change the game of basketball in terms of style, social progress, and marketability. Spanning the early 1900s to the present day, no other book features such a comprehensive examination of the key events and figures that led to the integration of professional basketball. In Breaking Barriers, these crucial steps in the history of the sport are placed within the larger context of American history, making this book an essential addition to the literature on sports and race in America.

Full Product Details

Author:   Douglas Stark
Publisher:   Rowman & Littlefield
Imprint:   Rowman & Littlefield
Dimensions:   Width: 16.00cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 23.80cm
Weight:   0.549kg
ISBN:  

9781442277533


ISBN 10:   144227753
Pages:   280
Publication Date:   15 December 2018
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand   Availability explained
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Prologue Chapter 1: Early Black Professional Basketball Chapter 2: The World Professional Basketball Tournament Chapter 3: The National Basketball League Chapter 4: Early Black NBA Pioneers Chapter 5: The Rise of African American Stars in the NBA Chapter 6: The Shadow of Michael Jordan Bibliography Index About the Author

Reviews

Douglas Stark's Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball is an integral addition to the sporting library, as the first volumes about Black baseball were to chronicling Negro League play and ownership. Copiously researched, the text is a comprehensive, entertaining account of the pioneering teams and figures who toiled long before the days of television deals and shoe contracts. Any reader or fan seeking to gain a perspective on today's game should familiarize themselves through this narrative, with the exciting oral history of Black contribution to integrated touring teams, organized leagues, collegiate ball, and the style of play now accepted as standard. -- Bijan C. Bayne, author, Sky Kings: Black Pioneers Of Professional Basketball and Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball


Douglas Stark's Breaking Barriers: A History of Integration in Professional Basketball is an integral addition to the sporting library, as the first volumes about Black baseball were to chronicling Negro League play and ownership. Copiously researched, the text is a comprehensive, entertaining account of the pioneering teams and figures who toiled long before the days of television deals and shoe contracts. Readers and fans seeking to gain a perspective on today's game should familiarize themselves through this narrative, with the exciting oral history of Black contribution to integrated touring teams, organized leagues, collegiate ball, and the style of play now accepted as standard. -- Bijan C. Bayne, author, Sky Kings: Black Pioneers of Professional Basketball and Elgin Baylor: The Man Who Changed Basketball


Author Information

Douglas Stark is the museum director at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. He is the author of three books about basketball: The SPHAS: The Life and Times of Basketball’s Greatest Jewish Team (2011), Wartime Basketball: The Emergence of a National Sport during World War II (2016), and When Basketball Was Jewish: Voices of Those Who Played the Game (2017).

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