The Grandfather of Black Basketball

The Life and Times of Dr. E. B. Henderson

Edwin Bancroft Henderson, II

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Hardback

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English

Rowman & Littlefield
16 January 2024

Biography: sport; Social & cultural history; Basketball

The first contemporary biography of the man credited with introducing basketball to African Americans on a wide-scale, organized basis.

Dr. Edwin Bancroft Henderson was the son of working-class parents born in slavery. A driven, intelligent, and charismatic young man, Henderson attended Harvard University’s Dudley Sargent School of Physical Training. There he met the leaders in the new field of physical education and recognized athletics—and basketball, especially—as a public health initiative and a way that Black youth could gain college scholarships and debunk the idea of racial inferiority.

In The Grandfather of Black Basketball: The Life and Times of Dr. E. B. Henderson, Edwin Bancroft Henderson II, Dr. Henderson’s grandson, provides unprecedented detail and fascinating insight into this influential figure in Black history. While setting in place the infrastructure for Blacks to participate in organized athletics, Henderson organized the first athletic league for Blacks, introduced basketball to Black players on a wide-scale and organized basis, and founded associations to train and organize Black officials and referees. He also wrote and co-edited the first Spalding publication that highlighted the exploits of African American participation in sports, was the first African American male to be certified to teach physical education in the United States, was instrumental in founding the first rural branch of the NAACP, advocated for inter-racial athletic competitions and school desegregation, held executive board positions with multiple NAACP branches, and authored The Negro in Sports.

Overlooked for decades, Henderson was finally enshrined in the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 as a contributor to the game. The Grandfather of Black Basketball gives long-overdue recognition to a sports pioneer, civil rights activist, author, educator, and pragmatic humanitarian who fought his entire life to improve opportunities for African American youth through athletics.

By: Edwin Bancroft Henderson II
Imprint: Rowman & Littlefield
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 236mm, Width: 159mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 531g
ISBN: 9781538163610
ISBN 10: 1538163616
Pages: 300
Publication Date: 16 January 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Edwin Bancroft Henderson II is the founding president and director of the Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, whose mission it is to research, preserve and celebrate the African American and civil rights history of Falls Church, Fairfax County, and Northern Virginia. He received the NAACP’s African American History Preservation Award and was named a National Trust for Historic Preservation Diversity Scholar. He is a Life Member of the NAACP and a member of the Historical Society of Washington. He has served on the Falls Church Historical Commission since 1995. Henderson was an educator for 25 years and is the namesake of Dr. E. B. Henderson.

Reviews for The Grandfather of Black Basketball: The Life and Times of Dr. E. B. Henderson

The Grandfather of Black Basketball is a very detailed, impassioned, and compelling biography that is essential reading for anyone interested in Edwin Bancroft Henderson and the larger civil rights struggle and role of sport during the first half of the twentieth century and beyond. Tracing his earliest days in Washington, DC, through his last years in Tuskegee, Alabama, the book makes clear Henderson's extraordinary versatility, influence, and commitment to social justice as a physical educator, administrator, community activist, and chronicler of African American athletes. --David K. Wiggins, George Mason University