Game of Privilege

“With the exception of Bill Spiller’s well-documented protests of American golf’s apartheid system, black golfers have not garnered a place in the rich radical milieu of the black athlete. But Lane Demas’s exploration Game of Privilege is a rearrangement of that understanding. It constructs an important new narrative about black golfers against the backdrop of racial supremacy that illuminates how and why progeny of enslaved Africans — men and women, golfers and not — waged a struggle, sometimes bloody and deadly, against the game in the Western hemisphere.” — Kevin Blackistone, Washington Post sports columnist, ESPN panelist, and visiting professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland

“Game of Privilege uncovers a little-known history of African American participation in golf, a sport long perceived as the exclusive domain of wealthy whites. Demas persuasively argues that well before the advent of Tiger Woods, black golfers made important contributions to the twentieth-century struggle for equality. Through careful examination and analysis, Game of Privilege moves golf from the periphery to the center of the conversation about race and sports in America.” — Tomiko Brown-Nagin, author of the Bancroft Prize–winning book Courage to Dissent

“There are a number of lessons to be learned from this book. . . . An unsettling but solid perspective on America.” — Library Journal

“The story [Demas] has to tell is enthralling. . . . Reminds us that golf can be serious business—and that it’s much more than a game.” — Wilmington Star News

“This book is layered, fascinating, and tells an important history.” — CHOICE

“A terrific book that will hold the interest of anyone who wants to gain a fuller understanding of [golf’s] development and the role that African Americans played in it.” — Michigan Historical Review

“Demas’s research, use of images, extensive footnotes, and historical tables make his book invaluable for researching leisure, African American and southern history, and, of course, golf itself.”—Journal of Southern History

“Provides the most complete account of the African-American experience in golf.”—Journal of African American History

“An accessible, detailed history of African Americans and the history of golf. Demas challenges the accepted ideas of who has traditionally played golf and the popularity of the sport among various classes, races, and genders . . . [to demonstrate] the importance of sport in understanding the history of society as well as the important and pioneering connections between sports and civil rights.”—Florida Historical Quarterly

“Shows how a single pastime—golf—provides a unique and powerful lens through which to examine and better understand the African American experience. The book concludes with a fascinating look at the Tiger Woods phenomenon, rejecting the standard view that Woods and his 1997 Masters victory represented a turning point for race and golf.”—American Historical Review