Sports, Race, and American Culture: A History of African Americans in Golf
FAIN: FT-61703-14
Lane Demas
Central Michigan University (Mount Pleasant, MI 48859-0001)
The Game of Privilege will be the definitive history of golf in the African American community -- a book that does not exist and one that would be valuable to both humanities scholars and the general public. A cultural history of race and golf placed within the broader context of American history since the late nineteenth century, the book will explore the game's rise alongside events such as the Great Migration, the Harlem Renaissance, and the postwar civil rights movement. Along the way, it will illuminate the stories of individuals who appropriated the movement's shifting rhetoric not only to access schools and voting booths but also to participate in America's most privileged sport. The book will provide significant insight into how race, class, and leisure impacted African American history and the quest for civil rights, as well as the surprising ways in which black people have deeply influenced golf's development since 1880.
Media Coverage
Book Review (Review)
Author(s): Neil Lanctot
Publication: American Historical Review
Date: 10/1/2018
Book Review (Review)
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Publication: Choice
Date: 3/1/2018
Book Review (Review)
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Publication: Florida Historical Quarterly
Date: 3/1/2018
Book Review (Review)
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Publication: Journal of African American History
Date: 7/1/2019
Book Review (Review)
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Publication: Journal of Southern History
Date: 11/1/2018
Book Review (Review)
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Publication: Library Journal
Date: 8/18/2018
“History Professor Wins Award for Book on African-Americans in Golf” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Central Michigan Life
Date: 2/26/2018
URL: https://www.cm-life.com/article/2018/02/2-18-golf-qanda
“Should Golf Exist?” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Refinery29
Date: 6/17/2021
URL: https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/06/10510728/golf-hate-viral-tiktok
“Morris Alexander Historic Marker Unveiling Moved to This Weekend” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Lynchburg News and Advance
Date: 12/3/2019
URL: https://newsadvance.com/news/local/morris-alexander-historic-marker-unveiling-moved-to-this-weekend/article_1de8c6c8-0bab-5887-9a8a-4c6936ff79b9.html
“Former Lynchburg African American Golfer Receives State Honor” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: WDBJ News (Roanoke, VA)
Date: 12/7/2019
URL: https://www.wdbj7.com/content/news/Former-Lynchburg-African-American-golfer-receives-state-honor-565931741.html
“Historian and Author Lectures on Civil Rights, College Football” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Altavista (VA) Journal
Date: 12/11/2019
“The Golf Industry Had a Banner Year During the Pandemic. Robin Golf Hopes to Add Diversity to the Sport” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Dot.LA
Date: 2/19/2010
URL: https://dot.la/robin-golf-2650615537.html
“Q&A with Lane Demas” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Read More Co
Date: 10/1/2019
URL: https://www.readmoreco.com/blogs/authors-interviews/q-a-with-lane-demas
“‘It’s City Golf’: In Historic Franklin Park, A Diverse and Thriving Course” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: msn.com
Date: 11/7/2020
“Unequal on the Fairway” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Boston Globe
Date: 8/12/2017
URL: https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2017/08/12/unequal-fairway/E4pYYyRHDV5tcUa3ZrwNUN/story.html
“NBA Superstar Stephen Curry Gives Howard University the Gift of Golf” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Washington Post
Date: 8/29/2019
“Stephen Curry Looks to Revive Howard University’s Golf Scene” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Axios
Date: 8/19/2019
URL: https://www.axios.com/stephen-curry-howard-university-golf-division-i-6036f117-e9b4-46ca-9c5f-31783e28ee5c.html
“9 Questions With Book Award Winner Dr. Lane Demas” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: USGA
Date: 2/1/2018
URL: https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/articles/2018/02/9-questions-with-dr--lane-demas--herbert-warren-wind-book-award-.html
“USGA Annual Meeting Looks Toward the Game’s Future” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Golfweek
Date: 2/4/2018
URL: https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2018/02/04/usga-annual-meeting-looks-toward-the-games-future/
“Jackie Robinson the Golfer” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: The Fried Egg (Podcast)
Date: 9/8/2020
URL: https://thefriedegg.podbean.com/e/fried-egg-stories-episode-9-jackie-robinson-the-golfer/
The Academic Minute (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: WAMC National Public Radio (NPR)
Date: 9/23/2020
URL: https://academicminute.org/2020/09/lane-demas-central-michigan-university-golf-and-racial-segregation-in-atlanta/
Interview (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Sports from the Grassroots
Date: 11/4/2017
Abstract: KZUM 89.3 FM, Lincoln, NE
“Golf Is More Than a Sport. It’s a Shot at Upward Mobility” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: CNN.com
Date: 8/25/2019
URL: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/08/25/us/steph-curry-howard-black-golfers-trnd/
“All-Black Hight School Team’s Success Highlights Golf’s Problem with Diversity” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: NBCNews.com
Date: 12/12/2019
URL: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/all-black-high-school-team-s-success-highlights-golf-s-n1100021
“‘It’s City Golf’: In Historic Franklin Park, A Diverse and Thriving Course” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: Boston Globe
Date: 11/7/2020
URL: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/11/07/metro/its-city-golf-historic-franklin-park-diversity-links/
Book Review (Review)
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Publication: Michigan Historical Review
Date: 3/1/2018
Book Review (Review)
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Publication: Sport in History
Date: 8/7/2018
Book Review (Review)
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Publication: The A Position
Date: 2/1/2018
Book Review (Review)
Author(s):
Publication: Wilmington Star News
Date: 10/28/2017
“The Johns of Aronimink” (Media Coverage)
Author(s):
Publication: The Golfers Journal (Podcast)
Date: 10/5/2020
URL: https://www.golfersjournal.com/editorial/the-johns-of-aronimink/
“Shippen and Shinnecock Make Remarkable History” (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Lane Demas
Publication: USGA Golf Journal
Date: 2/23/2018
URL: https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/videos/2018/02/23/180223-golf-journal---shippen-havemeyer--1--5739479498001.html
Associated Products
Game of Privilege: An African American History of Golf (Book)Title: Game of Privilege: An African American History of Golf
Author: Lane Demas
Abstract: This groundbreaking history of African Americans and golf explores the role of race, class, and public space in golf course development, the stories of individual black golfers during the age of segregation, the legal battle to integrate public golf courses, and the little-known history of the United Golfers Association (UGA)--a black golf tour that operated from 1925 to 1975. Lane Demas charts how African Americans nationwide organized social campaigns, filed lawsuits, and went to jail in order to desegregate courses; he also provides dramatic stories of golfers who boldly confronted wider segregation more broadly in their local communities. As national civil rights organizations debated golf's symbolism and whether or not to pursue the game's integration, black players and caddies took matters into their own hands and helped shape its subculture, while UGA participants forged one of the most durable black sporting organizations in American history as they fought to join the white Professional Golfers' Association (PGA).
From George F. Grant's invention of the golf tee in 1899 to the dominance of superstar Tiger Woods in the 1990s, this revelatory and comprehensive work challenges stereotypes and indeed the fundamental story of race and golf in American culture.
Year: 2017
Primary URL:
https://www.amazon.com/Game-Privilege-African-American-Franklin/dp/1469634228/Secondary URL:
https://uncpress.org/book/9781469634227/game-of-privilege/Publisher: Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press
Type: Single author monograph
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes
Prizes
Herbert Warren Wind Book Award
Date: 2/1/2018
Organization: United States Golf Association (USGA)
Abstract: Winner of the USGA award for best golf book of 2017.
NAASH Book Award
Date: 5/1/2018
Organization: North American Society for Sport History (NASSH)
Abstract: Winner for best sport history book of 2017.
"The ‘Color-Blind’ Golf Tournament That Brought Joe Louis, Bing Crosby, and Charlie Sifford to the Same Greens" (Blog Post)Title: "The ‘Color-Blind’ Golf Tournament That Brought Joe Louis, Bing Crosby, and Charlie Sifford to the Same Greens"
Author: Lane Demas
Abstract: After Being Excluded From Professional Golf Tours in 1913, Elite Black Players Founded the United Golfers Association
Date: 3/7/2019
Primary URL:
https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2019/03/07/color-blind-golf-tournament-brought-joe-louis-bing-crosby-charlie-sifford-greens/http://Blog Title: "The ‘Color-Blind’ Golf Tournament That Brought Joe Louis, Bing Crosby, and Charlie Sifford to the Same Greens"
Website: Zócalo Public Square
“Tiger Woods and His Career Are Officially History” (Blog Post)Title: “Tiger Woods and His Career Are Officially History”
Author: Lane Demas
Abstract: Yes, it’s been twenty years since 44 million U.S. viewers watched 21-year-old Tiger dominate the field, win his first major championship, and tearfully embrace his father Earl on the eighteenth green. So whether or not his golf career is history, it’s at least time to consider Tiger Woods as history.
Date: 9/19/2017
Primary URL:
https://uncpressblog.com/2017/09/19/lane-demas-tiger-woods-and-his-career-are-officially-history/Website: UNC Press Blog
Lane Demas's "Game of Privilege" (Blog Post)Title: Lane Demas's "Game of Privilege"
Author: Lane Demas
Abstract: Lane Demas is associate professor of history at Central Michigan University. He applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, Game of Privilege: An African American History of Golf.
Date: 9/12/2017
Primary URL:
https://page99test.blogspot.com/2017/09/lane-demass-game-of-privilege.htmlWebsite: The Page 99 Test