Also American
Struggle & ResistanceAchievement & Excellence

Field of excellence

Sport

Athletes who broke barriers and redefined excellence.

On the timeline

  1. February 13, 1920
    The Negro National League

    Rube Foster organizes the first lasting Black professional baseball league.

  2. June 22, 1937
    Joe Louis becomes heavyweight champion

    Louis's reign makes him a global symbol of Black achievement.

  3. August 28, 1950
    Althea Gibson breaks the tennis color line

    Gibson becomes the first Black player at the US National Championships.

  4. September 7, 1960
    Wilma Rudolph wins three Olympic golds

    Rudolph becomes the fastest woman in the world in Rome.

  5. February 25, 1964
    Cassius Clay wins the heavyweight title

    The future Muhammad Ali stuns the world and soon becomes a global icon.

  6. April 18, 1966
    Bill Russell, first Black NBA head coach

    Russell breaks the coaching color line in major American sports.

  7. April 13, 1997
    Tiger Woods wins the Masters

    Woods becomes the first Black golfer to win the Masters, in record fashion.

  8. August 16, 2016
    Simone Biles dominates the Rio Olympics

    Biles wins four golds and cements herself as one of the greatest gymnasts ever.

Resources

Website
The Negro National League Is Founded
National Baseball Hall of Fame

How Rube Foster built the Negro Leagues in 1920.

Documentary
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Ken Burns

The first Black heavyweight champion, whose wins triggered riots and a federal prosecution.

Article
An Oral History of Satchel Paige's Final Game at 59
William Weinbaum

Firsthand Negro Leagues memory around Paige's 1965 MLB return.

The web

Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations — the links rarely drawn together.