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Reviewed by:
  • From Jack Johnson to LeBron James: Sports, Media, and the Color Line ed. by Chris Lamb
  • Jacynda Ammons
Lamb, Chris, ed. From Jack Johnson to LeBron James: Sports, Media, and the Color Line. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. Pp. 648. Tables and index. $35.00, pb.

In From Jack Johnson to LeBron James, several authors provide new insights on the interconnection between sports and race by examining the role of the media in how popular sports narratives are created. Editor Chris Lamb and his fellow contributors discuss sports history through legends such as Jack Johnson and Jackie Robinson but also bring in more contemporaneous sports stories. The purpose of the book is to show how media perspectives, especially the difference between how African American and white writers discuss African American athletes and their accomplishments, influence the creation of narratives about African American athletes.

Beyond understanding the role of the media in making sports history, Lamb argues a larger point about the role of sports. In the introduction, he challenges readers to appreciate the connection between sports and civil rights activism. Historians are adding more and more to our understanding of the relationship between sports and the Black Freedom Struggle from the 1940s through 1970s, and Lamb is well positioned to further the ways in which the connection between sports and the media influenced African American activism in the twentieth century. He argues that we “cannot truly appreciate or truly comprehend the story of civil rights in the United States without an appreciation of what was happening [End Page 356] in sports in the United States” (6). Lamb wants readers to acknowledge that sports are part of making history, and in the context of this collection of essays, the role of the media takes prominence in understanding not just sports and race but also the demand of African Americans for equal rights.

As the only major criticism of the book, the first half focuses on Jackie Robinson, including being a minor character in some essays. While Robinson was foundational to breaking down racial barriers in professional sports, the book clearly shows there are many other athletes who contributed to making sports, and thus the United States as a whole, more equitable. Robinson has already received a lot of scholarly attention outside of this book, so more chapters on athletes and events from the 1960s and 1970s, such as the masterful essay on the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico by Jason Peterson, would have furthered Lamb’s argument about the connection between sports and civil rights activism. Lamb and the authors should be applauded, however, for moving beyond the 1960s and 1970s to bring stories from the twenty-first century into their analysis with articles on more current athletes, such as Michael Vick.

From Jack Johnson to LeBron James: Sports, Media, and the Color Line would be a useful text in sports, journalism, and history courses, or for nonacademics who enjoy sports. The book succeeds at fulfilling its goal of explaining the connection between sports, race, and the media, as well as providing interesting reading in sports history.

Jacynda Ammons
Texas Tech University
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