[Black Mercuries] presents a more comprehensive view of African American participation in the Summer Olympics throughout the entire 20th century, up to the most recent games. This text features not only prominent athletes but also underrecognized Olympians, coaches, trainers, and other personnel. The text chronologically analyzes the history, experience, and challenges of African American Olympians, documenting their introduction to the world stage, the rise of female athletes, expanded opportunities to compete beyond track-and-field, and participation in political and social resistance. Wiggins, Witherspoon, and Dyreson join forces to contextualize these topics within the changing social and political milieu of the US and broader world over many decades, beginning with "pioneer" African American medalist George Poage, who won bronze at hurdles in St. Louis (1904). Recommended.

Choice Reviews

This valuable reference work by respected scholars showcases iconic African American Olympians like Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Simone Biles, but more importantly, it also offers readers the opportunity to discover unheralded, barrier-breaking athletes and their notable contributions to sports history. Chapters are arranged chronologically, beginning with 1896 through 1920 and concluding with the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. As the authors note in their introduction, African American athletes have reflected both racial harmony and racial disparity over the decades, shaping "larger historical, social, and cultural trends” in the process. The focus here is on the summer Olympics, with headline-grabbing sports like track and field and basketball dominating coverage, but there are also fascinating chapters on African American standouts in Tug of War (contested from 1900 to 1920) and white-dominated sports like fencing, wrestling, and soccer. Fewer women athletes competed in the Olympics in the early part of the century, the authors explain, but that changed during the Jim Crow era, when the Tennessee State University Tigerbelles excelled in track and field and left a lasting legacy, which is examined in detail. An essential source on African American athletes and Olympic history.

Booklist, Starred Review

Wiggins, Witherspoon, and Dyreson do more than rescue the nation’s African American Olympians from oblivion. They capture their triumphs and travails beyond sport, anchoring their lives in more than a century of racial change. This lucid and compelling collaboration, whose penetrating research explodes conventional narrative about race and sport, showcases three eminent historians of sport at the top of their game.

Rob Ruck, award-winning sports historian, author of Tropic of Football: The Long and Perilous Journey of Samoans to the NFL

For those interested in Olympic history, this book is easy to pick up and hard to put down. For those interested in the African American experience, the stories of triumph, disappointment, and challenge will both resonate and inspire.

Stephen Wenn, lead author, The Gold in the Rings: The People and Events that Transformed the Olympic Games

The depth and breadth of African American Olympic sporting excellence fills the pages of Black Mercuries, as does the athletes’ tenacity and perseverance both on and off athletic fields and courts.

Rita Liberti, Professor, Department of Kinesiology, California State University, East Bay and co-author of Re-Presenting Wilma Rudolph

Black Mercuries is not just a valuable reference resource for scholars studying Black athletes and US Olympians. Rather, Wiggins, Witherspoon, and Dyreson instructively offer critical analysis of both heralded and overlooked Black Olympians, taking into account historical context and the politics of race, as well as gender, to highlight how the significance of these athletes extends beyond their sporting achievements.

Cat M. Ariail, author of Passing the Baton: Black American Women Track Stars and American Identity