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
