Gift and Grit

In 1998 Bill Clinton hosted a town hall on race and sports. 'If you've got a special gift ' the president said of athletes 'you owe more back.' Gift and Grit shows how the sports industry has incubated racial ideas about advantage and social debt since the civil rights era by sorting athletes into two broad categories. The gifted athlete received something for nothing we're told and owes the team the fan the city God nation. The gritty athlete received nothing and owes no one. The distinction between gift and grit is racial but also Joseph Darda reveals racializing: It has structured new racial categories and redrawn racial lines. Sports built on an image of fairness inform how we talk about advantage and deservedness in other domains including immigration crime education and labor. Gift and Grit tells the stories of Roger Bannister Roberto Clemente Martina Navratilova Florence Griffith Joyner and LeBron James - and the story their stories tell about the shifting meaning of race in America.