ATHLETIC SUCCESS AND THE AFRICAN AMERICAN

Despite its many barriers, sports stood as one of the early venues where blacks gained a foothold, and it remains one of the best-publicized routes to success for African Americans.

The high visibility of black athletes with multimillion dollar contracts, however, feeds into the limited and unrealistic dreams of millions of young African Americans who pin their hopes for the future upon becoming a professional athlete, usually at the expense of academic excellence and intellectual pursuits.