Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are valuable institutions that provide intellectual domains for racial uplift, racial refuge, and cultural empowerment within a continually polarized nation. Today’s current racial climate reminds us of the historical context that gave birth to HBCUs and segregated athletic experiences. While the sporting life at HBCUs is an integral part of these institutions’ mission, there is a dearth of research about HBCU athletics. In The Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Past, Present, and Persistence, leading scholars from across the nation present a holistic examination of the integral role sports have played at HBCUs. Chapters in this volume cover a range of topics, from HBCU Football Classics to economics. It begins with a historical overview of HBCUs and the early sporting life before delving into the experiences of today’s male and female student-athletes—including the unique perspectives of athletes who transferred from historically White colleges and universities to HBCUs. Other chapters examine economic issues at HBCUs, such as the financial viability of their athletic departments in the context of the larger NCAA economic framework, and recommendations for the future of HBCU athletics to restore both academic and athletic excellence at these institutions. An important addition to the existing literature on race in contemporary society, this volume provides a narrative of the Black experience from the historical origins of educating Blacks, their early athletic experiences, and the current state of athletics at HBCUs. The Athletic Experience at Historically Black Colleges and Universities is a significant contribution to the debate on college athletics and higher education, in general, and athletics at HBCUs, specifically. It is a must-read for sport studies scholars and students, sport management practitioners, and sport enthusiasts of the inter-workings of athletics and the HBCU experience.

“In Texas, football is king,” Rob Fink writes, “so it provides a prominent window on Texas culture.” In Football at Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Texas, Fink opens this window to afford readers an engaging view of not only the sport and its impact on African Americans in Texas, but also a better and more nuanced perception of the African American community, its aspirations, and its self-understandings from Reconstruction to the present. This book focuses on crucial themes of civil rights, personal and group identity, racial pride, and socio-cultural empowerment. Although others have examined specific institutions, time periods, and rivalries in black college football, this book is the first to feature a broad narrative encompassing an entire state. This wide field of play affords the opportunity to explore the motivations and contexts for establishing football teams at historically black colleges and universities; the institutional and community purposes served by athletic programs; and how these efforts changed over time in response to changes in sport, higher education, and society. Fink traces the rise of the sport at HBCUs in Texas and the ways it came to symbolize and focus the aspirations of the African American community. He chronicles its decline, ironically due in part to the gains of the civil rights movement and the subsequent integration of black athletes into previously white institutions. Finally, he shows how HBCUs in Texas have survived in the twenty-first century by concentrating on balanced athletic budgets and a carefully honed appeal to traditional rivalries and constituencies.

The Revolt of the Black Athlete hit sport and society like an Ali combination. This Fiftieth Anniversary edition of Harry Edwards's classic of activist scholarship arrives even as a new generation engages with the issues he explored. Edwards's new introduction and afterword revisit the revolts by athletes like Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos. At the same time, he engages with the struggles of a present still rife with racism, double-standards, and economic injustice. Again relating the rebellion of black athletes to a larger spirit of revolt among black citizens, Edwards moves his story forward to our era of protests, boycotts, and the dramatic politicization of athletes by Black Lives Matter. Incisive yet ultimately hopeful, The Revolt of the Black Athlete is the still-essential study of the conflicts at the interface of sport, race, and society.

The New Plantation examines the controversial relationship between predominantly White NCAA Division I Institutions (PWI s) and black athletes, utilizing an internal colonial model. It provides a much-needed in-depth analysis to fully comprehend the magnitude of the forces at work that impact black athletes experiences at PWI s. Hawkins provides a conceptual framework for understanding the structural arrangements of PWI s and how they present challenges to Black athletes academic success; yet, challenges some have overcome and gone on to successful careers, while many have succumbed to these prevailing structural arrangements and have not benefited accordingly. The work is a call for academic reform, collective accountability from the communities that bear the burden of nurturing this athletic talent and the institutions that benefit from it, and collective consciousness to the Black male athletes that make of the largest percentage of athletes who generate the most revenue for the NCAA and its member institutions. Its hope is to promote a balanced exchange in the athletic services rendered and the educational services received.

The book examines HBCUs and their role in higher education through several lenses, including politics, education policy, leadership practice, culture, and social justice. It will guide HBCU leaders and administrators to improve their institutions holistically during the age of accountability.

"This is a work that looks deeply at the true power of HBCUs"--

"College Athletes' Rights and Well-Being covers major policy issues in collegiate sports and seeks to address the issue of college athletics from the perspective of the athlete's well-being. It is written for those who seek to enhance their understanding of the intercollegiate athletics landscape. This textbook is intended for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, though scholars, teachers, practitioners, athletic administrators, and advocates of intercollegiate athletics will also find it essential. The book is arranged into 16 individual chapters that cover a range of topics on college athletes' rights and well-being. It is not exhaustive, but the editor believes that current concerns, challenges, and themes of relevance to higher education researchers and practitioners will certainly be well addressed" -- Provided by publisher.