For marginalized athletes past and present, achievement can bring
celebrity without equality and recognition without opportunity
In many ways, Ontario’s Chatham-Kent region is a microcosm of
Canadian multiculturalism. As a terminus of the Underground Railroad,
it has long been home to a large Black community, Walpole Island and
Delaware First Nations are nearby, and many interned Japanese
Canadians worked on local farms during World War II. The history of
sport in the region is emblematic of the challenges that have
confronted generations of non-white athletes nationwide. Each chapter
uses the story of a local athlete—some famous, others more
obscure—to illuminate one aspect of the evolving relationship
between race and sport in North America. Combining tales of personal
triumph with sports history and social commentary, On Account of
Darkness examines systemic racism and ambivalent attitudes that
persist to this day.
