Synopses & Reviews
In the first half of the twentieth century, Jack Trice, Ozzie Simmons, and Johnny Bright played college football for three Iowa institutions: Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and Drake University, respectively. At a time when the overwhelming majority of their opponents and teammates were white, the three men, all African American, sustained serious injuries on the gridiron, either because of their talents, their race, or, most likely, because of an ugly combination of the two. Moments of Impact tells their stories and examines how the local communities of which they were once a part have forgotten and remembered those assaults over time. Of particular interest are the ways those memories have manifested in a number of commemorations, including a stadium name, a trophy, and the dedication of a football field.and#160;Jaime Schultz focuses on the historical and racial circumstances of the careers of Trice, Simmons, and Bright as well as the processes and politics of cultural memory. Schultz develops the concept of andldquo;racialized memoryandrdquo;andmdash;a communal form of remembering imbued with racial significanceandmdash;to suggest that the racial politics of contemporary America have engendered a need to redress historical wrongs, congratulate Americans on the ostensible racial progress they have made, and divert attention from the unrelenting persistence of structural and ideological racism.
Review
andldquo;Firmly grounded in history, richly contextualized, theoretically sophisticated, and cogently written. . . . [Moments of Impact] tightly illustrates the messy, contentious politics of memory and commemoration, the making and remaking of meaning. . . . Scholarly and smart without being stuffy and dry.andrdquo;andmdash;Daniel A. Nathan, president of the North American Society for Sport History and author of Saying Itandrsquo;s So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal
Review
andldquo;Moments of Impact ties together quite nicely and with much finesse the connection among sport, racial politics, and cultural memory. . . . Schultz obviously understands that good history is about content and analysis and accuracy, but also about telling good stories involving interesting people and interesting events. . . . Moments of Impact will make a significant contribution to the scholarly literature.andrdquo;andmdash;David Wiggins, assistant professor of kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University and author of The Unlevel Playing Field: A Documentary History of the African American Experience in Sport
Synopsis
Roy Wilkins (1901-1981) spent forty-six years of his life serving the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and led the organization for more than twenty years. Under his leadership, the NAACP spearheaded efforts that contributed to landmark civil rights legislation, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. In Roy Wilkins: The Quiet Revolutionary and the NAACP, Yvonne Ryan offers the first biography of this influential activist, as well as an analy
About the Author
Jaime Schultz is an assistant professor of kinesiology in the History and Philosophy of Sport program at Pennsylvania State University. She is the author of Qualifying Times: Points of Change in U.S. Womenandrsquo;s Sport.