The Control of Black Expression in American Sport and Society

The manuscript is the culmination of two decades of athlete interviews and surveys on the politics of “appropriate” sports behavior, rules committees, why Black and White athletes behave the way they do on the field, and five decades of observing sports in places as varied as Oakland to New Zealand, Australia, Scotland and Wales. This study centers on culture-centered celebration behavior – Muhammad Ali’s swagger as the mold for Black style – and the struggles over ever-constricting NFL/NCAA rules on celebration (with humility as the White norm) and racial resistance over the years.