Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete

Insisting that today’s black athletes are lost, in part because they are unaware of their history and the struggles endured by those who came before them, Rhoden lays out the purpose of his book—to “tell the story of the rise and fall of the black athlete” (9).

Rhoden begins his book with personal anecdotes related to sports and to his relationship with his parents. He recounts afternoons spent with his father watching sporting events on TV, during which time both would generally cheer for the team that had at least one black player. During a time when few black athletes were shown in nationally televised games or bouts, “our cheering assumed a deeper meaning: We were cheering for our survival” (15).

He includes the historical context of race and sports by documenting the careers of Paul Robeson, Floyd Paterson, Sonny Liston, and Cassius Clay before exploring a crucial moment in his own athletic career as a football player for Morgan State University in the late 1960s. Weaving historical events with the narrative of his first college football game, Rhoden claims that the game between Morgan and Grambling—both historically black colleges—at a sold-out Yankee Stadium “was the harbinger of promise, of all that could be. Not ‘integration’ on white society’s terms, but self-sufficiency” (30).

After the game, the team bus takes the players through Harlem, where a young Rhoden exults in witnessing “the spiritual and cultural capital of black America” (24). Rhoden then flashes forward to present-day Harlem and laments how drastically things have changed, with nearly 100% of the local businesses now owned by non-black people: “Black on the outside, white-controlled on the inside. Harlem was a plantation” (33).

The plantation metaphor, says Rhoden, is an apt one because the history of American athletes began on the plantation fields of the American South. Understanding this metaphor is a step toward understanding the current situation of black athletes in America.

This chapter recounts the career of American boxer Tom Molineaux, while its latter half contemplating sporting on plantations in general. Molineaux, along with his trainer Bill Richmond (also African American), train for a boxing championship in early 19th-century England. Molineaux’s opponent is Tom Cribb, a white Englishman. Rhoden writes, “All the already well-formed stereotypes were in play here in the squared circle: the black man’s questionable character and intellect versus the white man’s claim to civilization and superiority” (40). The fight goes for 40 rounds, but with one hitch: Cribb is allowed extra time to rest—which is a violation of the rules—earlier in the bout. Molineaux loses. In a rematch, Molineaux, out of shape from drinking and carousing and without the aid of his trainer, succumbs in the 11th round.

Rhoden reminds his readers that these historic bouts did not receive much press in the United States; even the slightest hint that American black people had “an alternative to bondage” could have encouraged dissention and rebellion (46).

The latter half of the chapter explains the origin of sport and competition on plantations. While “plantation games and recreation were critical to the physical and psychic survival of many slaves” (50), Rhoden explains, the slaves themselves would eventually be exploited by plantation owners. In sports ranging from quarter-mile racing to jockeying, slave competition provided both free entertainment and opportunities for gambling among slavers. However, once white slavers began to understand the slaves’ athletic prowess, they continuously changed the rules of sport in order keep power, and they continue to do so.

This chapter further explains the changing of rules when black athletes demonstrate success or even dominance in a sport. Rhoden begins with the figure of Isaac Murphy, a famous African American jockey of the late 19th century. Similar to Chapter 2, which featured a showdown between one white athlete and one black athlete, this chapter follows up on that trope, with Murphy racing against the white jockey Snapper Garrison in a high-stakes event. Rhoden explains:

For many whites, a Garrison victory would confirm the caginess, guile, and daring that supposedly framed white supremacy. For African Americans, the race was simply one more symbolic venue to prove that African Americans could excel when the playing field was level (64-65).

However, less than two decades later, there would be almost no black jockeys. Their success, Rhoden argues, would ultimately lead to their demise. Rhoden calls this phenomenon—with shifting rules, outright character assassination, and unfair hiring practices—the “Jockey Syndrome.”

Rhoden gives examples from other sports. He cites the example of Moses Fleetwood Walker, the first black player (not Jackie Robinson) in the major leagues. Walker would eventually leave baseball. Owners in 1887 refused to offer contracts to African American players; racism from his own teammates and the league in general caused his eventual disenfranchisement. Other victims of “Jockey Syndrome,” according to Rhoden, include boxer Jack Johnson and cyclist Major Taylor. The climate for black athletes was worsening; however, Arthur “Rube” Foster, remaining hopeful, would soon create the Negro Leagues.