Outside the lines : African Americans and the integration of the National Football League /

Ross (history, Univ. of Mississippi) has published his recent Ohio State dissertation on the integration of the NFL, a league that today is 68 percent African American. Ross examines the early presence of African Americans in professional football's struggling years from 1904 through 1933, at which time their presence became no longer welcomed. He examines the reintegration of the NFL in 1946, which was influenced by WW II, the black press, the creation of a rival league, and the growing awareness of certain owners that black players could help them win. Reintegration spread slowly; it was not until 1962 that the Washington Redskins integrated, the final NFL team to do so. The book would have benefited from a more in-depth examination of such topics as the influence of the American Football League, the impact of integration on the college level, and the rapid increase of African American professional players since 1962, when the narrative ends. Not exhaustively researched, the book relies heavily on secondary sources, but also on the black press. Interviews could have greatly enhanced the narrative. Photographs and endnotes. Useful for general readers, undergraduates, and professionals and practitioners. S. A. Riess; Northeastern Illinois University