Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand

This is one of those books that needs to be read, whether or not one is into sports. Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand covers a lot of ground in terms of social justice and racism with a main focus on sports, from Jesse Owens to Colin Kaepernick and a lot inbetween. It also covers intersectional issues, such as womens rights and LGBT+ in some of the stories. The book is a history lesson as well as telling stories of injustice and social justice warriors.

This is a really important book to counter the idea that athletes shouldn't speak up about issues or do anything other than play sports. He talks about athletes in the past who took a stand as while as current athletes such as LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick.

Keep the conversation going.

This is an excellent short read on the impact civil rights issues have on organized sports, and vice versa. The day Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem is not the first time American athletes have fought for civil rights and it will certainly not be the last. Many big names who have come before sought to change their communities and desegregate the gaps in their chosen sports. Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand offers a great overview of past and present issues noticed and addressed by American athletes, especially related to the Black Lives Matter movement. Also, a pleasant find to my researcher heart, ten pages of resources and credits help to go further into the topics covered by each chapter.

Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand offers an excellent introduction African American athletes' fight for social justice. In twelve chapters, Bob Schron provides profiles of a range of athletes, beginning with Jesse Owens and Joe Lewis and ending with Colin Kaepernick. Because the book surveys the lives of a number of African American athlete-activists, none of the portraits goes into great detail—but Schorn keeps his focus on activism, so the portraits of even well-known figures provide readers with new information. He discusses the evolution of activist "styles" over time and makes connections across generations and across different sports.

Once you've read Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand, you'll have your own, personal list of individuals and topics you want to investigate further and will be able to move on to those with a solid grounding in the last 100 years of activism by African American athletes. Schron's writing style is straightforward and welcoming, making this a good title, not just for those interested in athletics or activism, but for any reader. This is a great book to keep in mind when you are buying holiday or birthday presents.

I received a free electronic review copy of this book from the publisher via Net Galley. The opinions are my own.

Taking a Knee, Taking a Stand came out in 2020, but it got buried in my TBR list. I am glad I finally read it, as it is a great history of the African American athletes and how they have helped to make changes in the treatment of all African Americans, not just athletes. This is not just a book about Colin Kaepernick and the others that joined his protest on the football fields. It starts in 1936 with Jesse Owens and goes through history sharing the story of Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, the Williams sisters, Wilma Rudolph and more. The book covers athletes in a wide range of sports including track & field, boxing, baseball, basketball, tennis, and football. The author also addresses athletes who took on women’s and LGBT issues and HIV/AIDS activism as well. The author also shared who the different generations inspired new athlete leaders as well as how they worked with Civil Rights leaders.

I knew some of the stories in this book, but not all of the background. One example is when Jesse Armstrong was honoured after returning from the 1936 Olympics. There was an event held at a hotel, where he was allowed to attend only after going up in the freight elevator, but he was not allowed to stay at that hotel. Gold medalists were invited to the White House, but he was not. Things have changed over the last 85 years, but there is still a lot of racism in sports. The men and women in this book decided that they had to use their positions to made a statement and show all African Americans that they can do something. This is not a sports book, but uses sports and athletes to show that racism is still out there, but with brave men and women, someday, things will be fair for everyone. There is a lot of history here, a lot of racism, white privilege and more.