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List of African-American sports firsts

African Americans are a demographic minority in the United States. The first achievements by African Americans in various fields historically marked footholds, often leading to more widespread cultural change. The shorthand phrase for this is "breaking the color barrier".[1][2]

The world of sports generally is invoked in the frequently cited example of Jackie Robinson, who became the first African American of the modern era to become a Major League Baseball player in 1947, after 60 years of segregated Negro leagues.[3]

19th century

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1879

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1884

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1896

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1899

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20th century

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1902

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1904

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  • First African American to participate in the Olympic Games, and first to win a medal: George Poage (two bronze medals)[15]

1908

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1910s

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1916

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1917

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1920s

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1920

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1921

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1924

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1929

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1930s

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1936

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1940s

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1946

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  • First African American to sign a contract with an NFL team in the modern (post-World War II) era: Kenny Washington

1947

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1948

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1949

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1950s

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1950

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1951

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1952

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1953

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1955

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  • First African Americans to play in the Orange Bowl: Charles Bryant and Jon McWilliams (University of Nebraska)[37]

1956

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1957

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1958

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  • Willie O'Ree debuts with the Boston Bruins in a game against the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the first Black player to play in the NHL. Willie would later be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame 60 years later [43]

1960s

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1961

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1962

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1963

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1964

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1966

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1967

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1968

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1970s

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1970

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1972

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1974

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1975

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1977

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1979

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1980s

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1981

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1982

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1984

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1986

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1987

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  • First African American man to sail around the world solo:[47] Teddy Seymour (See also: 1992)

1988

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  • First African-American NFL referee: Johnny Grier
  • First African American to win a medal at the Winter Olympics (a bronze in figure skating): Debi Thomas
  • First African-American quarterback to start (and win) in the Super Bowl: Doug Williams

1989

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1990s

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1991

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1992

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1993

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1994

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1996

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1997

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1998

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21st century

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2002

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2003

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  • First African American to win a Career Grand Slam in tennis: Serena Williams (See also: Althea Gibson, 1956; Arthur Ashe, 1968)

2004

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2006

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  • First African-American individual Winter Olympic gold medal winner: Shani Davis (men's 1,000 meter speed skating) (See also: Vonetta Flowers, 2002)

2007

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2008

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2009

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2010s

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2010

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2012

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  • First African-American gymnast to win the women's artistic individual all-around at the Olympic Games: Gabby Douglas

2013

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  • First African American gymnast to win the women's artistic individual all-around at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships: Simone Biles

2014

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2015

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2018

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  • First African American to play for Team USA Hockey in the Olympic Games: Jordan Greenway

2020

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2021

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  • First full-time female African-American NFL coach: Jennifer King with the Washington Football Team[59]
  • First female African-American NFL referee: Maia Chaka[60]

2022

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Clifton was the first to sign an NBA contract and subsequently play, Cooper was the first to be drafted by an NBA team, and Lloyd was the first to play in an NBA regular-season game because his team's opening game was one day before the others.
  2. ^ At the time, the NCAA had not yet adopted its three-division system. Illinois State was in the NCAA University Division, which became Division I in 1973. The NCAA retroactively considers University Division members to have been Division I members.
  3. ^ Although Flood's legal challenge was unsuccessful, it brought about additional solidarity among players as they fought against baseball's reserve clause and sought free agency.
  4. ^ The NHL had fielded black players for more than 20 years, with the first being Willie O'Ree in 1958, but all previous black players were Black Canadians and not African Americans. In 1996, Mike Grier (Edmonton Oilers) became the first to have been both born and exclusively trained in the U.S., per Allen, Kevin (January 14, 2008). "Willie O'Ree still blazing way in NHL 50 years later". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved June 23, 2014.
  5. ^ Lewis Hamilton became the first black Formula One racer in 2006, but he is a British citizen of Grenadan ancestry, and not an African American. Ribbs did not compete in a race, but drove a Formula One car professionally in January 1986 as a tester for the Brabham–BMW at Estoril, Portugal.
  6. ^ a b c Woods' mixed ancestry — ¼ Chinese, ¼ Thai, ¼ African-American, ⅛ white, and ⅛ Native American — also makes him the first Asian American to achieve this feat. He is also the first of only four golfers of primarily non-European descent to win a men's major, with the others being Vijay Singh (an Indian Fijian), Michael Campbell (a Māori from New Zealand), and Y.E. Yang (South Korean).
  7. ^ Announced as Bobcats owner in December 2002, although team did not begin play until 2004.
  8. ^ Smith and Dungy both reached this milestone on the same day, although Smith was technically the first due solely to scheduling. The NFC and AFC Championship Games are always held on the same day. In the playoffs that followed the 2006 NFL season, the NFC game was played first.

References

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  1. ^ Juguo, Zhang (2001). W. E. B. Du Bois: The Quest for the Abolition of the Color Line. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-93087-1
  2. ^ Herbst, Philip H (1997). The Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States. Intercultural Press. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-877864-97-1
  3. ^ Sailes, Gary Alan (1998). "Jackie Robinson: Breaking the Color Barrier in Team Sports". African Americans in Sport: Contemporary Themes, Transaction Publishers. p. 8. ISBN 978-0-7658-0440-2
  4. ^ William Edward White: Statistics and History Baseball-Reference
  5. ^ Husman, John. "June 21, 1879: The cameo of William Edward White". The Society for American Baseball Research.
  6. ^ Morris, Peter (February 5, 2015). ""Baseball's Secret Pioneer: William Edward White, the first black player in major-league history"". The Society for American Baseball Research/Slate.com.
  7. ^ Malinowski, Zachary (February 15, 2004). "Who was the first black man to play in the major leagues?". Providence Journal.
  8. ^ Siegel, Robert (January 30, 2004). "Black Baseball Pioneer William White's 1879 Game". National Public Radio.
  9. ^ Fatsis, Stefan (January 30, 2004). "Mystery of Baseball: Was William White Game's First Black?". The Wall Street Journal.
  10. ^ Gendin, Sidney (1999). "Moses Fleetwood Walker: Jackie Robinson's accidental predecessor". In Joseph Dorinson (ed.). Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports, and the American Dream. Joram Warmund. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. pp. 22–29. ISBN 978-0-7656-3338-5.
  11. ^ Newman, Margaret (July 2020). National Register of Historic Places Registration: Shady Rest Golf and Country Club (Draft) (PDF). National Park Service.
  12. ^ Aaseng, Nathan (2003). "Taylor, Marshall Walker". African-American Athletes. Facts on File library of American history. New York: Infobase Publishing. p. 218. ISBN 1438107781. Archived from the original on April 26, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  13. ^ Grasso, John (2010-11-15). "Lew, Harry Haskell "Bucky"". Historical Dictionary of Basketball. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0810875067.
  14. ^ "Charles W. Follis (1879-1910)". Black Past. February 24, 2009.
  15. ^ Conner, Floyd (31 October 2001). The Olympic's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of the Olympics' Gold Medal Gaffes, Improbable Triumphs, and Other Oddities. Potomac Books, Inc. p. 58. ISBN 978-1-59797-397-7. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  16. ^ Smith, Charles R. (22 June 2010). Black Jack: The Ballad of Jack Johnson. Roaring Brook Press. ISBN 978-1-59643-473-8. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  17. ^ Potter 2002, p. 345–346.
  18. ^ Smith, Frederick D. (2009-01-01). "Pollard, Fritz". In Jessie Carney Smith; Linda T. Wynn (eds.). Freedom Facts and Firsts: 400 Years of the African American Civil Rights Experience. Visible Ink Press. ISBN 978-1578591923.
  19. ^ Miller, Carroll L.; Pruitt-Logan, Anne S. (2012). Faithful to the Task at Hand: The Life of Lucy Diggs Slowe. Albany: State University of New York Press. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4384-4260-0. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
  20. ^ a b Wilson, Joseph; David Addams (2006). "Football". In Paul Finkelman (ed.). Encyclopedia of African American history, 1619–1895. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 234–237. ISBN 0195167775.
  21. ^ "William Dehart Hubbard First Black to Win Gold in an Individual Event". Jet. Vol. 90, no. 10. 1996-07-22. pp. 60–61. ISSN 0021-5996.
  22. ^ Weber, Bruce (July 19, 2008). "Sherman L. Maxwell, 100, Sportscaster and Writer, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved August 13, 2008.
  23. ^ Thomas, Dexter (14 July 2015). "The Secret History Of Black Baseball Players In Japan". NPR. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  24. ^ Brown, Nikki L. M.; Stentiford, Barry M. (30 September 2008). The Jim Crow Encyclopedia: Greenwood Milestones in African American History. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 693. ISBN 978-0-313-34181-6. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  25. ^ a b Parks, Gregory; Bradley, Stefan M. (2002). Alpha Phi Alpha: A Legacy of Greatness, The Demands of Transcendence. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-8131-3421-5. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  26. ^ Smith 2003, p. 700.
  27. ^ Rosenberg, Aaron (2013). 42: The Jackie Robinson Story: The Movie Novel. Scholastic Inc. p. 133. ISBN 978-0-545-54113-8. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
  28. ^ Harris, Cecil (2007). Charging the net: a history of Blacks in tennis from Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe to the Williams sisters. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. ISBN 9781566637145.
  29. ^ "1950-51 Season Overview: NBA's Color Line is Broken". National Basketball Association. Archived from the original on March 20, 2015. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  30. ^ Howell, Dave. "Six Who Paved the Way". National Basketball Association. Archived from the original on March 11, 2013.
  31. ^ Wagner, Jeremy. "9. Firsts For African-Americans". ESPN. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013.
  32. ^ McDowell, Sam (March 9, 2013). "Sumner grad Harold Hunter, first African-American to sign with NBA team, dies at 86". Kansas City Star. Kansas City, Missouri. Archived from the original on March 12, 2013. Retrieved 2013-03-30.
  33. ^ Smith 2003, p. 676.
  34. ^ "Meet Bernie Custis, football's first African-American quarterback". Toronto Star. Toronto. August 12, 2011. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved 2015-04-12.
  35. ^ "Biography: Alice Coachman". National Women's History Museum.
  36. ^ "Thrower was first black QB to play in NFL". Associated Press. ESPN Classic. February 22, 2002. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
  37. ^ "Huskers to Break Racial Barrier", Des Moines Register, Dec. 28, 1954
  38. ^ Thamel, Pete (January 1, 2006). "Grier Integrated a Game and Earned the World's Respect". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
  39. ^ Company, Johnson Publishing (2003-10-13). "First Black Tennis Champion Althea Gibson Dies in East Orange, Nj, at 76". Jet. Vol. 104, no. 16. pp. 51–52. ISSN 0021-5996. {{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  40. ^ Lew Freedman (2007). "Don Newcombe". African American Pioneers of Baseball: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 99–108. ISBN 9780313338519.
  41. ^ a b Spears, Marc J. (2017-02-28). "Scott Perry honors his father's NFL legacy and aims to continue making history in the NBA". Andscape. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  42. ^ a b maryrose (2008-08-25). "Remembering the Steelers Lowell Perry, the First African-American Coach in Modern NFL History". Behind the Steel Curtain. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  43. ^ "Black Hockey History: A timeline". National Hockey League Players' Association.
  44. ^ Rhoden, William C. (25 November 2014). "A Pioneer's Tribute Is Both a Reward and a Reminder: Charlie Sifford Is Given the Presidential Medal of Freedom". The New York Times.
  45. ^ "Postseason World Series MVP Awards & All-Star Game MVP Award Winners". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2015.
  46. ^ "1964 - Willie Mays Breaks a Major Barrier". lenferman.substack.com. Retrieved 2024-07-06.
  47. ^ "Seymour, Teddy". National Sailing Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  48. ^ Freeman, Mike. "Art Shell Reflects on Becoming NFL's 1st Black Head Coach in Modern Era". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
  49. ^ Richman, Evan (June 10, 1992). "Sailor Makes Solo Voyage Around Globe". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  50. ^ "Black Hockey Player Helps Chicago Win Stanley Cup". regalmag.com. Archived from the original on March 2, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2016.
  51. ^ "Mariah Stackhouse – GoStanford.com – Stanford University". gostanford.com.
  52. ^ Beth Ann Nichols (4 June 2014). "Stanford's Mariah Stackhouse keeps breaking barriers as Curtis Cup begins". Golfweek.com.
  53. ^ Pennell, Jay (January 2, 2015). "Remembering Wendell Scott's lone NASCAR win 51 years later". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on April 24, 2015.
  54. ^ Rush, Curtis (17 March 2015). "CFL names Jeffrey Orridge as new commissioner". Toronto Star. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  55. ^ Cordner, Jason (August 17, 2020). "Washington Football Team Names Jason Wright First African American Team President in NFL".
  56. ^ "Washington Football Team Appoints Jason Wright as President". Washington Football. August 17, 2020. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  57. ^ "Seattle Kraken hire NHL's first Black team broadcaster Everett Fitzhugh". RSN.
  58. ^ "Panthers: Peterson is NHL's first Black asst. GM". ESPN. November 17, 2020.
  59. ^ McCarthy, Kelly (January 27, 2021). "Washington Football Team makes NFL history with 1st full-time Black woman coach". ABC News. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
  60. ^ "NFL names Maia Chaka to officiating crew, making her first Black female referee".
  61. ^ "Houston Astros' Dusty Baker becomes first Black manager to win 2,000 games, 12th to do it overall". espn.com. ESPN. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
Bibliography
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