summary

[Austin]

The Strange Career of the Black Athlete: African Americans in Sport, is a basic introductory primer for readers unfamiliar with the historical accomplishments of African Americans in American sport, before and after the era of segregated sport. Wigginton uses an interesting structure to explain African-American participation in a variety of sports by choosing trios for each chapter to illustrate familiar themes. This book shows how sports have at times challenged racial mores yet at other times reinforced the status quo in this revealing historical group portrait of black athletes.