Full Description
In the first half of the twentieth century, Jack Trice, Ozzie Simmons, and Johnny Bright played college football for three Iowa institutions: Iowa State University, the University of Iowa, and Drake University, respectively. At a time when the overwhelming majority of their opponents and teammates were white, the three men, all Black, sustained serious injuries on the gridiron due to foul play, either because of their talents, their race, or, most likely, an ugly combination of the two. Moments of Impact tells their stories and examines how the local communities of which they were once a part have forgotten and remembered those assaults over time. Of particular interest are the ways those memories have been expressed in a number of commemorations, including a stadium name, a trophy, and the dedication of a football field.
Jaime Schultz focuses on the historical and racial circumstances of the careers of Trice, Simmons, and Bright as well as the processes and politics of cultural memory. Schultz develops the concept of "racialized memory"-a communal form of remembering imbued with racial significance-to suggest that the racial politics of contemporary America have generated a need to redress historical wrongs, congratulate Americans on the ostensible racial progress they have made, and divert attention from the unrelenting persistence of structural and ideological racism.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Telling Exceptional Tales
1. Resurrecting Jack Trice: Life, Death, and the Campaign for Jack Trice Stadium
2. Iowa State University's Commemorative Balancing Act: Jack Trice Stadium and Carrie Chapman Catt Hall, 1995-97
3. Ozzie Simmons, Floyd of Rosedale, and a Tale of Two Governors
4. Photographic Memory and the Johnny Bright Incident of 1951
Afterword: Coming to Terms with the Past
Notes
Bibliography
Index
