These athletes risked their jobs and fought to ensure equality for blacks in America

The Civil Rights Movement in America was a struggle for social justice and equality. It began mainly during the 1950s and 60s. Its aim was to push for blacks to be treated equally under the laws of the United States.

Despite slavery ending with the end of the American civil war, discrimination against blacks did not. It continues to manifest in manifolds in today’s America. It just won’t stop after decades of fighting for that inalienable right to equality.

Many African American generations perished in fighting.

In a controversial 1975 article, titled “White Racism, Black Crime, and American Justice,” criminologist Robert Staples argued that discrimination pervades the justice system. The legal system, he said was made by white men to protect white interests and keep blacks down.

In this article, Face2Face Africa looks at some African American athletes – old and new – who were fed up with the systematic prejudice and violence against blacks and protested.