Race and Sports in American Culture

You may know about its much-discussed commercials, but there's more subtle marketing that takes place during the Super Bowl. This fascinating talk by Kenneth Shropshire, a professor of legal studies and business ethics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and the author of the book "In Black and White: Race and Sports in America," tells about the real winners of this great sports spectacle, the Super Bowl.

The traveling exhibit "Joe Louis Barrow: A life and career in Context" opened and previewed on November 13, 2013 at the Woodruff Library at Emory University. The life and legacy of boxing great Joe Louis is told through photographs, periodicals and archival materials from Emory University's Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL). The opening included Joe Louis Barrow Jr., film clips of Louis' significant boxing matches, and other prized materials. The exhibit and its opening are part of this year's Race and Sports in American Culture Series, a roster of events examining the intersection of race and sports throughout American history.

The panel discussion on September 7, 2013, was part of the kick off event of Emory Libraries 2013-2014 “Race and Sports in American Culture Series” (RASACS). RASACS was inspired by the African Americans in Sports collection in its Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL). The panel focused on “The Evolution of the Game: How the 1970 Merger of the NFL and AFL Changed America.” Featured panelists are Willie Lanier, NFL Hall of Fame (class of 1986) and the first African American middle linebacker in the NFL (Kansas City Chiefs); Michael MacCambridge, adjunct professor at Washington University in St. Louis, biographer of Kansas City Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt and author of “America’s Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football Captured a Nation.”

The keynote address on September 6, 2013, was part of the kick off event of Emory Libraries 2013-2014 “Race and Sports in American Culture Series” (RASACS). RASACS was inspired by the African Americans in Sports collection in its Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library (MARBL). The keynote address by William C. Roden, New York Times sports journalist, focused on the role of sports for African Americans in a changing global society.

Early is the director of the Center for the Humanities and the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters at Washington University. He is the editor of several volumes, including Body Language: Writers on Sport (1998); and The Muhammad Ali Reader (1998), and the author of many books. Glenn is a former NBA basketball player and collector of rare books, newspapers, and magazines by and about African Americans. He shares his artifacts through traveling exhibits and lectures. From his collection, he wrote Lessons from My Library Volume 1.

Lewis, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Emory and the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of History and African American Studies. Dr. Lewis is author and co-editor of seven books, among them In Their Own Interests: Race, Class and Power in 20th Century Norfolk (1993) and the award-winning To Make Our World Anew: A History of African Americans (2000). McDaniels , assistant professor of history at the University of Missouri at Kansas City and consultant curator of African American Collections at MARBL, earned his Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts at Emory in 2007. His dissertation focused on “The Angles of Ascent: Race, Class, Sport and Representation of African American Masculinity.” He is working with MARBL to build research collections related to African Americans and sports.