College football season is in full swing, and if you watch a game you can't help but notice that black players are everywhere. A generation or two ago, this was not the case. In the living memory of the elders among us, black players could not play with white players in college or professional football. When Chester Pierce attended Harvard in the 1940s, he was one of a very few black students. When the football team went to play an away game against the University of Virginia, many thought he wouldn't be a part, as no black player had played at Virginia.
In Gloria Respress-Churchwell's charming picture book, Follow Chester!: A College Football Team Fights Racism and Makes History, she tells Chester's story. His teammates banded together and supported Chester on and off the field. When a restaurant said Chester had to use the back entrance, the whole team used the back entrance. When the University of Virginia said Chester couldn't stay at the team hotel, the whole team joined Chester at alternative accommodations.
For the 60 or 70 and under crowd, the reality of Jim Crow is hard to imagine. For Chester and his generation it was all too real. He was brave to step out and cross that color line. His teammates were brave to support him. Follow Chester, with Laura Freeman's cute illustrations to support Resress-Churchwell's text, will remind kids, black and white, of these ugly days and the heroes that helped our nation overcome.
Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!
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