Black Sporting Resistance

In recent years, there has been increased attention towards activism in sporting spaces. A vast majority of these contributions have focused on intra-nation tensions and impact. Yet, there is a dearth of scholarship that has engaged in a theoretically grounded analysis of how Black sportspersons have exhibited resistance in and through sport across national borders across time, space, and context. In this text, Joseph N. Cooper introduces the Black Sporting Resistance Framework (BSRF) as an analytic lens to examine how resistance actions in and through sport have contributed to the advancement of local and global racial justice efforts. Key concepts such as African (Black) diaspora, transnationalism, internationalism, sporting resistance typology, and sport activism typology are incorporated throughout the book. Black sporting resistance is also analyzed alongside broader social movements such as the Black Liberation Struggle, Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism, and Black Radicalism. Insights on the ways in which sport can be used to advance social justice in the future are presented.

JOSEPH N. COOPER is the inaugural Dr. J. Keith Motely Endowed Chair of Sport Leadership and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is the author of From Exploitation Back to Empowerment: Black Male Holistic (Under)Development through Sport and (Mis)Education and A Legacy of African American Resistance and Activism through Sport.

GERALD HORNE is the John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He is the author of over thirty books, including Revolting Capital: Racism and Radicalism in Washington, D.C., 1900–2000 and The Counter Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery and Jim Crow and the Roots of U.S. Fascism.