Black Athletes Ties to Community Support Topic of Discussion at UW March 24

An Ivy League professor will discuss how community involvement plays an important role in the success for black student-athletes during a free public discussion Thursday, March 24, at the University of Wyoming.

Derrick White, Dartmouth College visiting associate professor of history, will discuss “From Athletic Dreams to Freedom Dreams: Black Athletes, Community and Activism” at 7 p.m. in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center auditorium.

UW’s African American and Diaspora Studies Program and UW Athletics Department sponsor the program.

White will examine the black sporting experience from racial pioneers to desegregated athletics to the contemporary landscape, exploring the ways that black athletes maintain attachments to black communities. He will discuss the connections to the local, regional and national black communities that provide African-American student-athletes the support for not only their athletic dreams, but their freedom dreams.

White is a scholar of modern black history with an emphasis on intellectual, political and sports history. He has written a book titled “The Challenge of Blackness: The Institute of the Black World and Political Activism in the 1970s” (Florida, 2011) and is co-editor of “Winning While Losing: Civil Rights, the Conservative Movement and the Presidency from Nixon to Obama” (Florida, 2014).

He currently is writing a book tentatively titled, “Blood, Sweat and Tears: Florida A&M and the Rise and Fall of a Black College Football Dynasty.”

White received both his doctoral and master’s degrees from Ohio State University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland-College Park.

For more information, contact Tracey Patton, African American and Diaspora Studies director, at (307) 766-3857 or email topatton@uwyo.edu.