Dr. Derrick E. White's new book
Blood, Sweat, and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football (University of North Carolina Press, 2019) chronicles the development of black college football in the twentieth century, and is among the first comprehensive histories of black college athletics. Using the biography of Alonzo “Jake” Gaither and the history of the football program at Florida A&M University (FAMU), Dr. White shows how black college football and its supporters created successful programs during segregation by relying on a network of athletic enthusiasts in the media, on campuses, and in the community.
White is the author of
The Challenge of Blackness: The Institute of the Black World and Political Activism in the 1970s (Florida, 2011) and
has published articles in New Politics, The Journal of African American History, the C.L.R. James Journal, The Journal of African American Studies, and The Florida Historical Quarterly. He's also the co-host “The Black Athlete Podcast” with Professor Louis Moore of Grand Valley State University. You can find him on Twitter @blackstar1906.
Adam McNeil is a History PhD Student at Rutgers University-New Brunswick.