Fredrick Douglass “Fritz” Pollard was an all-star athlete playing multiple sports: track, baseball, and football.
Pollard played for multiple colleges including Harvard and Dartmouth but it was only after he took his talents to Brown University when his game elevated him to the pros.
Pollard joined the Akron Pros in 1919. He quickly became a star quarterback on the field and led the team to a championship in 1920. However in 1933, the NFL banned Black players making his integrated stint short-lived. So he took his focus elsewhere.
Pollard created his own Black team in response, teaming up with Jackie Robinson’s brother Mack, and Paul Robeson. Together they created the Harlem Brown Bombers, and Pollard coached the team. They elevated the status of Black players and made a lane for themselves outside the white gaze of the NFL.
We don’t need white power structures to display our talents and genius. We can create and nurture our own just like Pollard did. What spaces can you see us creating for ourselves today?