Black players in American professional football
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Part of the American football series on History of American football |
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• Origins of American football
• Close relations:
• Black players in American professional football |
Details of the history of black players in American professional football depend on the professional football league considered: the National Football League (NFL) or the American Football League, (AFL), a rival league from 1960 through 1969, which eventually merged with the NFL.
• Origins of American football
• Close relations:
• Black players in American professional football
• Homosexuality in American football
• Concussions in American football
• Rugby union comparison
• Rugby league comparison
• Canadian football comparison
• Pro Football Hall of Fame
• College Football Hall of Fame
• Years in American football
Charles Follis is believed to be the first black professional football player, having played for the Shelby Steamfitters from 1902 to 1906. Follis, a two sport athlete, was paid for his work beginning in 1904.
From its inception in 1920 as a loose coalition of various regional teams, the American Professional Football Association had comparatively few African-American players; a total of nine black people suited up for NFL teams between 1920 and 1926, including future attorney, black activist, and internationally acclaimed artist Paul Robeson. Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the first black players in what is now the NFL in 1920. Pollard became the first (and until 1989, only) black coach in 1921; during the early-to-mid-1920s, the league used player-coaches and did not have separate coaching staffs.
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