Forty Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Black Athlete

Rhoden discusses his decision concerning the title and explains his choice of the term “slave.” He asks himself if “slave” is indeed the proper term for an athlete who makes millions of dollars, setting up his thesis and generating his use of the plantation as a metaphor for the current problems faced by black athletes.

Insisting that today’s black athletes are lost, in part because they are unaware of their history and the struggles endured by those who came before them, Rhoden lays out the purpose of his book—to “tell the story of the rise and fall of the black athlete” (9).

Rhoden begins his book with personal anecdotes related to sports and to his relationship with his parents. He recounts afternoons spent with his father watching sporting events on TV, during which time both would generally cheer for the team that had at least one black player. During a time when few black athletes were shown in nationally televised games or bouts, “our cheering assumed a deeper meaning: We were cheering for our survival” (15).

He includes the historical context of race and sports by documenting the careers of Paul Robeson, Floyd Paterson, Sonny Liston, and Cassius Clay before exploring a crucial moment in his own athletic career as a football player for Morgan State University in the late 1960s.