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Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete |  | Author: William C. Rhoden
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
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Rating:  29 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0307353141
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.08996073
EAN: 9780307353146
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Product Description
From Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali and Arthur Ashe, African American athletes have been at the center of modern culture, their on-the-field heroics admired and stratospheric earnings envied. But for all their money, fame, and achievement, says New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden, black athletes still find themselves on the periphery of true power in the multibillion-dollar industry their talent built.
Provocative and controversial, Rhoden’s $40 Million Slaves weaves a compelling narrative of black athletes in the United States, from the plantation to their beginnings in nineteenth-century boxing rings and at the first Kentucky Derby to the history-making accomplishments of notable figures such as Jesse Owens, Althea Gibson, and Willie Mays. Rhoden makes the cogent argument that black athletes’ “evolution” has merely been a journey from literal plantations—where sports were introduced as diversions to quell revolutionary stirrings—to today’s figurative ones, in the form of collegiate and professional sports programs. Weaving in his own experiences growing up on Chicago’s South Side, playing college football for an all-black university, and his decades as a sportswriter, Rhoden contends that black athletes’ exercise of true power is as limited today as when masters forced their slaves to race and fight. The primary difference is, today’s shackles are often of their own making.
Every advance made by black athletes, Rhoden explains, has been met with a knee-jerk backlash—one example being Major League Baseball’s integration of the sport, which stripped the black-controlled Negro League of its talent and left it to founder. He details the “conveyor belt” that brings kids from inner cities and small towns to big-time programs, where they’re cut off from their roots and exploited by team owners, sports agents, and the media. He also sets his sights on athletes like Michael Jordan, who he says have abdicated their responsibility to the community with an apathy that borders on treason.
Sweeping and meticulously detailed, $40 Million Slaves is an eye-opening exploration of a metaphor we only thought we knew.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
 The Paradox of the "Slave Athletic Celebrity" July 17, 2006
M. JEFFREY MCMAHON (Torrance, CA USA)
59 out of 65 found this review helpful
Rhoden's aim in this finely written and very readable screed is to explore the African American star athlete's paradoxical dilemma: On one hand, he is worshipped for his athletic prowess and is lavished with millions of dollars. On the other hand, he is beholden to white team owners, white league administrators, and as such is limited to the role of a super-paid lackey.
Some reviewers object to the slavery analogy and the exodus from the plantation to the Promised Land that is heavily used in Rhoden's argument. But Rhoden is correct to point out that the slavery is both spiritual and power-based. Spiritual because too many African American athletes, Rhoden charges, are so busy micromanaging their careers that they have no sense of the broader context, of African American history (one star athlete was shocked with disbelief when he discovered that blacks were once banned from Major League Baseball). Power-based because too many blacks are relegated to "black" roles and forget the larger mission of making more opportunities for blacks in positions of privilege.
Whether or not you agree with Rhoden's analogy, I would argue that the book is nevertheless very readable and entertaining, giving us powerful narratives of how black men, starting with the emancipated slave fighter Tom Molineaux, left America to fight the English champion Tom Cribb and showed whites that blacks' athletic performance defied stereotypes about being dense, ignorant, maladroit, etc. By studying Molineaux, Ali, and other African American greats, Rhoden shows how black athletes who see themselves as symbols of black power help forge the way for other black athletes.
On a personal note, Rhoden, an African American, explains in his own life growing up in Chigaco in the 1950s and 1960s, that sports are a great avenue for learning about race and American history. I am no exception. As a child, I loved Hank Aaron and one day as I read about the way he was bullied and denied white restaurants and hotels, I got a bitter taste of what this country was like for people of color and contemplated the hideous color divide.
Sports is a powerful metaphorical arena for talking about race and Rhoden has done an exemplary job of developing that metaphor in a book that is always engaging and provocative.
The NBA as a Metaphor for the Plantation? Difference is They Get Paid Millions February 28, 2007
Dera R Williams (Oakland, CA United States)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete
by journalist William C. Rhoden gives a no-holds barred, unadulterated low-down about highly paid black athletes and the juxtaposition of slavery. How did Rhoden come to the conclusion that most Black athletes are highly paid slaves? He starts off methodically detailing the history of African Americans sports dating back to the plantation when slaves were a commodity; property to be used for entertainment as well as labor. Plantation owners would stage fights between slaves from different plantations as weekend amusement. Slaves also became jockeys to plantation owners who owned horses. This became a lucrative business and Black jockeys earned huge payoffs for their owners as well as for themselves on into Reconstruction and into the early 1900s. Blacks dominated horse racing but they were literally squeezed out of the market by greed, jealousy and blatant racism.
Rhoden also details the rise and fall of the Negro Leagues and the tragedy of Arthur "Rube" Foster, who sacrificed everything in the 1930s to organize Black ownership of baseball teams and to give due respect to black baseball players who were unable to play in the major leagues. Ironically, integration saw the end of the Negro Leagues when prime players such as Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige went to the majors. Rhoden goes on to chronicle the early days of football and basketball. He recounts pioneers in both fields, including Paul Robeson of Rutgers and Raymond Chester of Morgan State and then the Oakland Raiders. It was not until the early 1970s that Southern colleges began recruiting Black football players; at one time the NBA was almost all-white.
Rhoden contends that our young Black athletes, high school, college and professional, lack knowledge of their history in general, and the history of African Americans in sports, in particular. He cites this disconnect for not only the negative, destructive behavior that many of them indulge in but the apathy and lack of political noninvolvement and racial pride. Where are the young Muhammad Alis? But it is the Benjamins that are the prize at the end of the day. Poor inner-city or southern rural Black kids who show exceptional athletic talent become a victim of the "Conveyor Belt." A system, by which they are prepped, coddled and many times exploited at early ages on into high school and college with the main goal to snag the million dollar contracts and lucrative endorsement deals. Who would not want this? But at what cost? Even with all the money Black athletes command, there is still a lacking in coaching, those in top management and almost nil in Black team ownership with the exception of Robert Johnson of the Charlotte Bobcats. Also notable are the few African American sports journalists working to shape and control our image and the lack of exposure to Black agents, attorneys and other specialists to these new multimillionaires.
Kellen Winslow Sr., now an attorney, was a former college football star and played pro for several years and is now in the Hall of Fame. Because he went through the Conveyor Belt, he was able to advocate for his son, Kellen Jr. when the college scouts came courting. He speaks candidly about how college scouts will try to divide the child and parents. He refused to let this happen, often butting heads with his son over where he would go to college. Winslow maintains though that most Black kids do not have a parent, most specifically a father, who will run interference in these matters.
One of the most profound chapters is "The River Jordan: The Dilemma of Neutrality."
Rhoden shows disappointment, hurt, an almost aversion to the beloved Michael Jordan. Jordan's apathy towards Black causes and his neutral stance was a topic of debate when Marcus Book Club met to discuss this book. The members however, came to the agreement that to whom much is given, much is expected and cited Magic Johnson and Dikembe Mutombo as excellent examples of those giving back to their communities. This book is a must-read, especially for young people, both young men and young women and their parents. The history is invaluable and the subject is timely. This is a keeper in one's African American library.
Dera R. Williams
Marcus Book Club (Oakland)
APOOO BookClub
Forty Million Dollar Slaves July 29, 2007
Joseph S. Maresca (Bronxville, New York USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book enunciates the problems in graduation from the inner city
into the big leagues. Historically, by the late 1890s, black athletes
excelled at an ever increasing rate. Despite the progress made,
the profile of the black athlete stands at the periphery of power
in the sports establishment. This has lead to the loss of an overall
mission, although the psychological armor remains in the achievements
of the black athletes over the years. The author states that the
plantation slaves performed great physical labor. Prior to the 1970s,
segregation was a significant limiting factor. Sojourner Truth
worked on behalf of the black women of the time. Today, there are
multiple tiers of blacks in America. The book provides some very
important historical background; however, the next step is to
turn the capital acquired from the sports into personal wealth .
In addition, an athlete's physical stamina remains until the
mid-30s or early 40s. What does an athlete do when his/her career
has peaked athletically? The book could discuss this aspect in more
depth. For instance, black athletes could graduate into their
own businesses or attend college/further study to branch out into
other careers/ventures. Another important issue regards how the
black athlete invests money for the future.
Overall, the book provides an important perspective relevant to the
black history of athletes in the various sports. As such, it is
a valuable addition to American History in the sports arena.
Challenge Your Views July 24, 2006
Mr. Richard D. Coreno (Berea, Ohio USA)
30 out of 44 found this review helpful
For those in the media who have written about the book, commented on its contents or have interviewed William C. Rhoden:
1. Did you read the book or the brief excerpts that are typically part of the release sent to possible reviewers?
2. To "stimulate" debate - especially on talk radio - have you simply joked about the book's title in hopes of getting a few callers before the top of the hour news, weather and traffic report?
3. Did you give Mr. Rhoden time to discuss portions of the book or did you simply attempt to debate him based on your ignorance on the contents of the book?
I stongly urge those interested in African American heritage to read Forty Million Dollar Slaves. In under 300 pages, Rhoden packages a wealth of material based on his research, interviews and - importantly - as a black man who came of age during the Black Power movement of the 1960s.
Will every reader agree with Rhoden's historical outlook on the plight of the African American athlete in the white-dominated power structure? No. But it just may be the first time for the reader to be challenged concerning the "conventional" views on race & sports.
Until America confronts the ramifications of slavery, it can never truly be free from the sordid past and the rewriting of history that plagues education today. Rhoden lays down the challenge....and the truth isn't the neat package the mainstream media loves to recite.
INTENSE SPORTS AND HISTORY ! May 21, 2008
Donnell P. Stephens (United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
As a sportsfan, this is a must read! The author's writing style was fantastic. The way the title of the book was introduced to the reader was outstanding, like watching a car accident unfold. Exposing racism in the beginging stages of sports is a hard pill to swallow but very necessary, truth hurts! It's amazing to know that men envied by the masses for their lucrative salaries and lifestyles are virtually powerless in the strategic scope of sports. If you enjoy history, sports, and stories of triumph and struggle you will love this book.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
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