This book is needed to help guide the conversation around ways to address the great disparities that impact African American males in intercollegiate athletics. In particular, scholars and practitioners have grappled with issues surrounding the climate and opportunities presented to African American males as student-athletes and coaches. Yet, there has not been a single text dedicated to identifying issues pertaining to the success and pitfalls of Black males not just as student-athletes, but also as coaches, administrators, and academic support staff in intercollegiate athletics. By addressing such topics as the economic realities of athletic competition, academic achievement, mental health, job opportunities, and identity, a new discourse will emerge on the role of African American males in college sports. This work will revisit old issues and explore the new complexities surrounding Black males in the realm of athletics in higher education with the purpose of improving their plight.

A detailed history of our particular branch of Grahams descending from the Lower Mearns of Kincardineshire Scotland. It traces Grahams and extended relatives from Scotland to America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. And even yet, there are gaps, mysteries and loose threads that may yet yield other relations to the earliest Grahams in and around St. Cyrus parish on the north east coast of Scotland. While there are only 166 Grahams in our family tree, their history and dispersion from the lower Mearns offers engaging insights into the hard lives that must have existed in the 18th and 19th centuries.