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

Michael Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls from 1984 to 2003 and became widely seen as the greatest athlete of the 20th century. As an NBA legend, Jordan was groomed by sports attorneys to be one of the first black athletes to be used as a marketing tool, pitching everything from Nike products to Hanes underwear. Rhoden takes issue with Jordan’s lack of involvement in black politics.

Harris was an Olympic basketball star and one of the first women to dominate the game. In 1975, Harris led her unknown team from Delta State University in Mississippi to win their first of three consecutive national championships; in 1976, she was a medalist in the Olympic Games in Montreal. Despite her success as a player, she would eventually be all but forgotten as an athlete. She was turned down for a coaching position, in favor of a white man, at her alma mater, and was later fired from her coaching job at a poorly funded university.

As a Major League Baseball player, Flood famously refused to report to his new team once he had been traded. Flood challenged the sports authorities’ Reserve Clause and was effectively shunned for standing up to ownership. His efforts paved the way for future players to have a say in their own careers.

Foster used his own ballplaying experience and business acumen to start the legendary but short-lived National Negro League (NNL) in 1920. His goal was to see an all-black team join the major leagues, as opposed to a situation in which individual black players joined mostly white teams. Desegregation would, ironically, lead to the end of his league, as white owners chose the black players they wanted at the same time as Foster’s investment money began to dwindle. He suffered from a nervous breakdown and died in a mental hospital.

The first black player in the modern era of Major League Baseball, Robinson gained national attention after he was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Robinson would later do his part to support the black cause, publicly supporting both Curt Flood during his trial and John Carlos and Tommie Smith—two African American Olympians who raised their arms in protest at the 1968 Games in Mexico City.

Known for his commanding presence as head coach of the Georgetown Hoyas, Thompson, n successful and influential African American sports icon, was nonetheless controversial. While he voiced his opinions regarding the treatment of black athletes, he was, according to Rhoden, a capitalist before anything else, frequently directing his players to be represented by a white agent.

A famed African American jockey of the late 19th century, Murphy was also a skilled horse trainer. At the peak of his career, he would earn a yearly salary of up to $20,000, more than that of the entire Chicago White Sox. He would become a victim of his own success; white jockeys and the Jockey Club would alter the standard rules of hiring to put an end to Murphy’s career.

A former NBA player and a critic of white ownership in sports, Johnson insisted that, though he was well paid, his earnings and the wealth of the NBA had done nothing to improve impoverished black neighborhoods. Accused of being ungrateful, he was eventually called out by a disgruntled fan, who labeled him a $40 million slave; this anecdote inspired the book’s title.

As a boxer in the early 1800s, Molineaux, a former slave, was one of the first black American competitors in sports who would face off against white opponents in an effort to better publicize the event. He had two chances against the defending champion of the day. He lost the first only after the rules were altered to suit his white opponent. Despondent, he would lose the re-match as well, this time due to a lack of training and dedication.

As a young black entrepreneur, Johnson started BET (Black Entertainment Television) with a small bank loan, eventually selling the channel. He was the owner of the Charlotte Bobcats NBA franchise at the time this book was written. Although Johnson is credited as being the first black owner in modern-day sports, Rhoden takes issue with him for parlaying his blackness to gain an advantage in franchising and recruiting, and for his profiteering from cheap entertainment on his network, which he would eventually sell to white ownership.