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Not the Triumph but the Struggle The 1968 Olympics and the Making of the Black Athlete REVIEWS: |
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A sweeping look at black athletes through the lens of the Black Power protests at the Mexico City Olympics. Jesse Owens. Muhammad Ali. Michael Jordan. Tiger Woods. All are iconic black athletes, as are Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the two African American track and field medalists who raised black-gloved fists on the victory dais at the Mexico City Olympics and brought all of the roiling American racial politics of the late 1960s to a worldwide television audience. But few of those viewers fully realized what had led to this demonstration-events that included the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., uprisings in American cities, student protests around the world, the rise of the Black Power movement, and decolonization and apartheid in Africa. In this far-reaching account, Amy Bass offers nothing less than a history of the black athlete. Beginning with the racial eugenics discussions of the early twentieth century and their continuing reverberations in popular perceptions of black physical abilities, Bass explores ongoing African American attempts to challenge these stereotypes. In particular, she examines the Olympic Project for Human Rights, an organization that worked to mobilize black athletes in the 1960s and whose work culminated with the Mexico City protest. Although Tommie Smith and John Carlos were reviled by Olympic officials for their demonstration, Bass traces how their protest has come to be the defining image of the 1968 Games, with lingering effects in the sports world and on American popular culture generally. She then focuses on images of black athletes in the post-civil rights era, a period characterized by a shift from the social commentary of Muhammad Ali to the entrepreneurial approach of Michael Jordan. Ultimately Bass not only excavates the fraught history of black athleticism but also offers an incisive look at media coverage of athletic events-and the way sport is intimately bound up in popular constructions of the nation. “In her excellent new book, Not the Triumph but the Struggle, author Amy Bass uses the famous ‘black power’ podium salute by sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith as the centerpiece of her expansive examination of the black athlete in America.” —Boston Globe “Absorbing and cogent, the book traces the ‘historical production of the black athlete,’ using the Olympic Project for Human Rights and the Black Power protests at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics as a simultaneously definitive and disruptive moment. Beautifully written, as well as appropriately complex and wide-ranging, the book examines the tangled relations among racism, global and national politics, commercialism, civil rights, national identity, labor and play, gender, ‘science’ (as this is recurrently used to ‘explain’ athletic prowess and performance), definitions of ‘professional’ and ‘amateur,’ television, and sports related industries (fashion, endorsements). As much as sports might appear to be a straight-ahead business, where the ‘best’ might be rightly rewarded, Bass deftly reveals the difficulties of maintaining a sense of self, collective consciousness, and political urgency—multimillion dollar contracts go a long way toward ‘erasing’ the ongoing effects of prejudice. ‘Victory can be defined in many ways,’ Bass concludes, ‘including by the struggle itself.’” —Philadelphia City Paper "In this far-reaching examination, Bass-assistant professor of history at Pittsburgh State University and a research expert for the past three Olympics-explores the history of the black struggle and the events that led up to this unforgettable moment in time. Moreover, it's really a history of black athletes and their impact beyond the playing field." —Toronto Sun "In addition to being competition, entertainment, business, and shared experience, Sport has often been a stage where significant social issues were played out. In the twentieth century, those issues often pertained to human rights and race. Sometimes the dynamics of sports served to clarify those issues, sometimes to muddle them. Here, Amy Bass sorts through the events and perceptions linked to some of the biggest names and moments in sports history, and assesses their meaning beyond the playing field." —Bob Costas “Bass’s is a cultural analysis with a broad reach. We witness an essential moment in sports history, but we also learn about the construction of the black athlete as political figure, the lack of female leadership and participation within the OPHR movement, and the conversion of media image into intellectual property. [A] worthy book.” —Aethlon “Not the Triumph but the Struggle is as definitive a work as can be written on the post-World War II African American experience in sports. Her work is a stimulating, informative, and most interesting book to read. Scholars investigating the African American sporting experience have an intellectual debt to her for her pioneer work.” —Journal of African American Men “It is rewarding to read Bass’s treatment and to be afforded the opportunity to relive and rethink the tumultuous sixties and a struggle for civil rights, empowerment, and human dignity that permeated even that holy sanctuary known as the Olympic Games.” —Journal of American History “When Muhammad Ali agreed to light the torch at the Olympic Games he was not just making another appearance, he was bestowing a blessing. These men and women are larger than their Games, and Bass’s book on Smith and Carlos helps us to understand why. Bass closes her excellent book with a meditation on the place of the modern black athlete in America.” —The Berkshire Eagle Amy Bass is assistant professor of history at College of New Rochelle and worked as a member of the NBC research team for the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and the Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games in 2002. 400 pages | 5 7/8 x 9 | 2002 (cloth), 2004 (paper) Note on Usage 1. The Race between Politics and Sport Notes |
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