Author Description

A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete, 1610-1918 (Vol 1) covers the period from 1619, when Africans were first brought to these shores as slaves, to 1918, the end of the First World War. From 1865 through 1896, African Americans succeeded spectacularly in sports. It was this period that gave rise to Jack Johnson, the first Black heavy weight champion; Marshall Taylor, "the world's fastest cyclist"; and Isaac Murphy, the first three-time winner of the Kentucky Derby.