Was there a race barrier in the NFL?

Question

It's well known that jackie robinson broke the MLB color barrier in in the late 1940's, but are there any resources about race and the NFL? Was there a color barrier in the orginization, and if so when was it broken?

this is a sincere inquiry. Please, no racist comments.

Answer 1

I have no idea but it's one h**l of a question.. let me know what you find out.

Answer 2

There were African American players in the 20's and 30's. Fritz Pollard for one was a trail blazer, However in the mid to late 30's some owners were not as open to blacks in the NFL and banned them from play for about 10 years. Other leagues were around AAFC and others so most black players just went to play for the other leagues. Once the NFL realized this blunder they lifted the ban, I believe right around the time Jackie Robinson broke into the majors '47 or '48 and mainly the west coast teams started recruiting black players, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers. Once the rest of the league saw how well these players performed, they followed suit and the rest is history. So the answer to your question would be yes and no, depending on the franchise location.

Answer 3

hey kiko, im kinda interest in the first green alien....wasnt it Smarlo McKucktuc?

Answer 4

It was never a clear cut ban like MLB had. The NFL wasn't nearly as popular as baseball so it had a harder time turning away quality athletes. It was more of the individual owners and there prejudices. The one area that did get a lot of attention was black quarterbacks. Most NFL people felt black players weren't "smart enough" to play quarterback. Finally in the 1970's and 80's guys like James Harris and Doug Williams started having some success.

Answer 5

Dude, no one should care about race records.  Who gives a d**n about the first green alien who played 100 games.  Don't even care about that c**p.  This isn't racist, it's what everything should be like; not the first white/yellow/red/black person to do this.