Throughout the period of legally supported segregation in the United States; practices of racial discrimination; touching every sector of American life; prevented African Americans from participating formally in professional sports. Jim Crow policies remained in place in baseball; football; and basketball until a few years before the Supreme Court struck down the separate but equal doctrine in 1954. By the late 1950s; the African American presence was felt in major sports. But this was not the case in professional golf; which continued to maintain segregation policies perpetuating the stereotype that African Americans were suited only to caddie roles in support of white players. The Professional Golfers Association; unaffected by the 1954 Brown decision since it was a private organization; maintained a Caucasian only membership clause until 1961. All-white private clubs maintained racial exclusion until the PGA Championship Shoal Creek Country Club Affair in 1990.Using black newspapers; archives; interviews with living professional golfers and other informants; and black club records; Dawkins and Kinloch reconstruct the world of segregated African American golf from the 1890s onward. In the process they show the pivotal role of Joe Louis; who claimed his hardest fight was the one against segregated golf. While others have documented the rise of an African American presence in other sports; no comparable efforts have traced their roles in golf. This is a pioneering work that will be a resource for other writers and researchers and all who are interested in Black life in American society and sports.
#3141869 in Books 2009-05-08Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.00 x 6.00l; 1.70 #File Name: 0271036257480 pages
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