Sport has played a profound role in Black American history. An important venue for leisure, entertainment, and cultural expression in local Black communities, the sporting world has also provided a platform for some athletes to publicize and further campaigns for freedom and justice. Subject to intense media scrutiny (especially when they have broken barriers or charted new territory in sports), Black athletes have often been discussed in terms that tell us as much about the political, gender, class, and racial dynamics of a given moment as they do about an individual athlete’s performance on the field or in the arena. With this in mind, this class reexamines twentieth-century African American history by placing the experiences of Black athletes at the center of the story.