It took him eight years to complete, but New York Times sports columnist William Rhoden's new book is starting to make some noise. With a title like Forty Million Dollar Slaves, the buzz would have been impossible to avoid.
But at yesterday's "Race and Sports" lecture, sponsored by Penn's Center for Africana Studies, Rhoden proved his book is more than a catchy title.
Drawing on personal experience - from his college football debut at Yankee Stadium when he was at Morgan State to his 30-plus years in the business of sports - and years of research, Rhoden dispelled some common misconceptions about the history of African Americans in sports while reading excerpts from his book.
And given that he was speaking at a university with a very active athletic community, it was only natural he throw in his two cents on that.
"By the time [black athletes] get to . a big-time college, they're really just kind of there playing ball," Rhoden said. "That's really because there's no educational process. . All it is basically is a cash register."
Rhoden proposed that student-athletes be required, from their freshman year of high school, to study under a curriculum, with an introductory course called "Sports in America." The courses would teach them every aspect of sports, from the history, to the economics, to the sociology, until athletes are "fluent" in their sport.
"It was a very timely discussion about a topic that's really hot right now, I think," said Guthrie Ramsey, a professor in the Penn Music Department who attended the lecture.
Considering the lecture coincided with the 60th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson's major-league debut, Rhoden was certainly not about to miss an opportunity to talk about an all-American hero's legacy. But Rhoden's take is a bit different than most.
Rhoden likened the major-league owners' process of picking and choosing specific African American players to the Treaty of Berlin, in which Africa was carved up into European colonies in the 19th century.
"The Negro [baseball] Leagues were a microcosm of that process," he said.
The roles black athletes have taken on since then have changed immeasurably, but as Forty Million intends to show, the problem isn't gone, it's just changed. And according to the author, it's a problem that could certainly be affecting a school like Penn.
Rhoden talked about 'special admits' - students admitted to schools for having a particular talent, whether it be music, art or sports - as an underlying problem in athletics that doesn't just concern African-Americans.
"I think the special admits are going to be devastating to a lot of programs and a lot of people," he said. "Anything that eliminates people out on life. Even at Penn."
