Thursday, Oct 17, 2024 7:00 PM

Location:
Georgia Center for the Book

Decatur Library
215 Sycamore Street
Decatur, Georgia 30030

How the integration of a small Southern town's football team reflected a changing era.

A Cappella Books and Georgia Center for the Book welcome author Mark Clegg to discuss his new book, "The Crimson and Gold: Football and Integration in Athens, Georgia."

This event is free and open to the public. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the venue.

About the Book

"The Crimson and Gold" is a comprehensive narrative detailing the struggle for integration in Athens, Georgia, in the context of highly competitive football as experienced by athletes, their fellow students, teachers, journalists, and school administrators at (predominantly White) Athens High School and (African American) Burney-Harris High School and eventually Clarke Central High School—formed after the two legacy schools were forced to merge. The proud sports traditions of two high schools—both adored by their respective communities—eventually become inextricably linked with the larger battle for equal rights during the tumultuous 1960s and early 1970s.

In addition to the relatively well-known stories of the University of Georgia's integration in 1961, Mark Clegg details "Freedom of Choice" transfers in the early 1960s, desegregation of businesses like the iconic Varsity restaurant, the violence perpetrated by the local chapter of the KKK, the first athletic competitions between Burney-Harris and Athens High, the resistance by large portions of both the Black and White communities to the phasing out of their beloved schools, and the tense and often violent first several years of Clarke Central's existence. Finally, Clegg recounts the Athens High football team's remarkable state title run—in its last year of existence in 1969.

Clegg conducted extensive interviews with a number of Black and White Athenians who lived through the era, including Horace King, Richard Appleby, and Clarence Pope (Burney-Harris and Clarke Central football players who were three of the first five Black football players at UGA); former Athens mayor and Athens and Clarke Central High School football player Doc Eldridge; current DeKalb County CEO and former Georgia labor commissioner (and Burney-Harris and Clarke Central football player) Michael Thurmond; the first Black scholarship athlete at UGA and Athens High School alumnus Maxie Foster; and local writer, journalist, and publisher (Flagpole magazine) Pete McCommons.

About the Author

Mark Clegg is an Atlanta native who has published two previous books: "Mountain Miles: A Memoir of Section Hiking the Southern Appalachian Trail" and "The View from Hadrian's Wall: Two Friends Hike Along the Ancient Roman Frontier." Outside his writing, Clegg works in financial services and co-owns an antiques and collectibles business in Atlanta, Georgia.