Who is the Black Athlete, and why is he such a phenomenon in American society? 

From Jack Johnson to Terrell Owens, the black athlete has been a mystery. Unable to be deciphered by his white counterparts, he is often ridiculed. But in more cases than not, he has become the measuring stick for greatness—as in the cases of Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown.

When I speak to the Baby Boomer generation and those born prior to it, they recall the atrocities many of the groundbreaking athletes faced. The Civil Rights movement had not reached its peak, so there was little resistance in the form of demonstrations, marches, etc. All those athletes had to fall back on was the support of one another.

However, the 21st-century edition of the black athlete comes out of the blast furnace of urban America, politically conscious and consumed in the hip-hop culture. While circumstance forges an unrelenting desire for greatness, the developmental tools needed to survive in today’s world are lost somewhere in their formative years.

This can be the case in any individual, but it is most prominent in the black communities.

Despite the media portrayal of most of today’s black athletes as selfish, highlight-seeking enigmas, they are undoubtedly some of the most gifted and popular athletes in the world.

With that in mind, let us look at the black athlete past, present and future.

Jack Johnson was boxing’s first black Heavyweight champion. Johnson carried himself with such a swagger that whites went as far as to put out a call for a “Great White Hope” in an effort to dethrone Johnson. That handle was placed upon former champion Jim Jeffries, who had retired three years earlier.

Jack London, author and journalist, wrote that, “Jim Jeffries must come out of retirement...the white man must be saved.” If the fate of the white race was in Jeffries' hands, he failed miserably in his defeat to Johnson. The fallout from this event was nothing less than barbaric—riots ensued as blacks were attacked and killed because whites were outraged that a black man had defeated a white man in the boxing ring.

Johnson continued with rub white America's nose in it. He went as far as to date white women openly, something that did not go over too well in a segregated America. Again, Johnson would come away unscathed. 

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