For a very long time, African-Americans were not allowed to participate in the same sports as Whites. The were shunned because they were a different color than everyone else. They were only allowed to participate not very long ago, especially in some sports.

Here are some African-Americans who broke the race barrier in sports:

The first African-American in the NHL was Arthur Dorrington, a native of Nova Scotia. In 1950, he became the first African-American to ever sign a contract to play hockey.

This was a good year for the NBA, too. The first African-American to play in the NBA was Earl Lloyd, even though the first African-American "drafted" out of college was Chuck Cooper, for the Celtics. Lloyd earned the honor because of the teams' schedules. The first African-American to sign a contract and then play with the NBA was Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, with the Knicks; though Harold Hunter was the first to sign a contract, he was cut during the pre-season.

The first African-American to play pro football was Charles W. Follis, way back in 1904! Obviously this wasn't for the NFL, which hasn't been around that long.

One of the first African-Americans to play golf professionally was George Grant. Not only did he patent the modern golf tee in 1899, he was also one of the two first African-Americans to graduate from Harvard Dental School.

Rube Foster was one of the first African-Americans to set up an all-Black baseball league. Some people today don't realize that the African-American leagues of the mid-20th Century are considered by most historians to have been at least as good as the MLB, which didn't allow African-American players until 1947, when Jackie Robinson was signed by the Dodgers.

Many African-Americans are some of the best players in sports today. Many have won a lot of individual awards and helped their team to victory. Some of the greats of the last 10 years include Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in basketball, Jarome Iginla in hockey, Dante Culpepper in football, Tiger Woods in golf and Pedro Martinez in baseball.

African-Americans should be accepted as the same as any other people, without question. They are the same as you and me. You should not judge someone by the color of their skin.

They may look just a little different, but they are not different inside.

Now I must get to bed or I will have my mom yelling at me....

Zimmer12, signing off.
*click*

Editor's Note: I just read an exciting article in the Los Angeles Times that described how today's NFC championship saw the first time that two African-American quarterbacks squared off against each other in a championship game. One of them was guaranteed to go to the Superbowl, too! (As it turned out, Donovan McNabb and his Philadelphia Eagles overcame Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons, 27-10.)

Here's what looks like a great website on African-Americans breaking in to the NBA:
http://www.hoophall.com/exhibits/freedom_to_play_opener.htm

Here's a short timeline of African-Americans in football:
http://www.profootballhof.com/history/general/african-americans.jsp

Here's an entry on Andrew "Rube" Foster, Hall-of-Fame baseball player and manager:
http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/foster_rube.htm

And the MLB's own site about the Negro Leagues:
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/history/mlb_negro_leagues.jsp

And as MediaWiz pointed out in last week's Media Menu, there is a new documentary series about Jack Johnson, the incredible and controversial African-American who absolutely dominated boxing around the turn of the 20th Century.