Strong Inside (Young Readers Edition): The True Story of How Perry Wallace Broke College Basketball's Color Line

Strong Inside (Young Readers Edition): The True Story of How Perry Wallace Broke College Basketball's Color Line

The inspirational true story of the first African American to play college basketball in the deeply segregated Southeastern Conference--a powerful moment in Black history. Perry Wallace was born at an historic crossroads in U.S. history. He entered kindergarten the year that the Brown v. Board of Education decision led to integrated schools, allowing blacks and whites to learn side by side. A week after Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Wallace enrolled in high school and his sensational jumping, dunking, and rebounding abilities quickly earned him the attention of college basketball recruiters from top schools across the nation. In his senior year his Pearl High School basketball team won Tennessee's first racially-integrated state tournament. The world seemed to be opening up at just the right time, and when Vanderbilt University recruited Wallace to play basketball, he courageously accepted the assignment to desegregate the Southeastern Conference. The hateful experiences he would endure on campus and in the hostile gymnasiums of the Deep South turned out to be the stuff of nightmares. Yet Wallace persisted, endured, and met this unthinkable challenge head on. This insightful biography digs deep beneath the surface to reveal a complicated, profound, and inspiring story of an athlete turned civil rights trailblazer. Praise for Strong Inside ★ "This moving biography is thought-provoking, riveting and heart-wrenching, though it remains hopeful as it takes readers into the midst of the basketball and civil rights action."— Booklist , STARRED review "This portrait of the fortitude of a young athlete will make a huge impact on teens and is guaranteed to spark serious discussion."— School Library Journal “Even if you’re not a history buff, this important story is worth your time.”— Sports Illustrated Kids "A fascinating, very personal account of the effect that the civil rights movement had on one individual. . .  a must purchase for any middle school or high school library."—Miss Yingling Reads ★ "This moving biography is  thought-provoking, riveting  and heart-wrenching, though it remains hopeful as it takes readers into the midst of the basketball and civil rights action."— Booklist , STARRED review "This portrait of the fortitude of a young athlete will make a  huge impact on teens  and is guaranteed to spark serious discussion."— School Library Journal   “Even if you’re not a history buff, this important story is worth your time.”— Sports Illustrated Kids "A fascinating, very personal account of the effect that the civil rights movement had on one individual. . .  a must purchase for any middle school or high school library."—Miss Yingling Reads  Praise for the New York Times bestselling adult edition of Strong Inside "A heartbreaking work of staggering genius."— SLAM Magazine "Powerfully told."— New York Times "Nuanced and complex, Strong Inside is an invaluable resource for studying the state of race relations in the US, both past and present...Highly recommended."— Choice "Thorough and engaging...a long-overdue tribute to this little-known player."— Washington Post Andrew Maraniss studied history at Vanderbilt University and as a recipient of the Fred Russell-Grantland Rice sportswriting scholarship, earned the school's Alexander Award for excellence in journalism. He then worked for five years in Vanderbilt's athletic department as the associate director of media relations, dealing primarily with the men's basketball team. The son of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author David Maraniss and trailblazing environmentalist Linda Maraniss, Andrew was born in Madison, Wisconsin, grew up in Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas and now lives in Brentwood, Tennessee, with his wife Alison, and their two young children. His first book for adults, Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South , was a New York Times  nonfiction bestseller. Follow Andrew on Twitter @trublu24. Dear Readers: To accurately and vividly convey the racism that Perry Wallace and others encountered during certain scenes described in this book, the derogatory language they heard at the time is included here without edits. It would be a disservice to the reader and the heroes of this story to whitewash history by sanitizing these epithets. Chapter 1 A Dangerous Place If you take a look at the Vanderbilt University basketball schedule for the 1966–67 season and search for the game dated February 27, you’ll see it was the day the Vanderbilt Commodores traveled to Starkville, Mississippi, to play the Mississippi State Bulldogs. But that day meant something much different to one member of the Vanderbilt basketball team. For Perry Wallace, February 27, 1967, will always be remembered as the day he visited hell on earth. *** From the very moment Vanderbilt’s flight from Nashville landed in Mississippi, a dangerous place for A