Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 4-2006 Black Power in Green and White: Integration and Black Protest in Michigan State University Football, 1947-1972 John Matthew Smith Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Sports Studies Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Smith, John Matthew, "Black Power in Green and White: Integration and Black Protest in Michigan State University Football, 1947-1972" (2006). Master's Theses. 3357. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/3357 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. BLACK POWER IN GREEN AND WHITE: INTEGRATION AND BLACK PROTEST IN MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL, 1947-1972 by John Matthew Smith A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate College in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of History WesternMichigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan April2006 BLACK POWER IN GREEN AND WHITE: INTEGRATION AND BLACK PROTEST IN MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL, 1947-1972 John Matthew Smith, M.A.. WesternMichigan University, 2006 While southerncollege footballteams remained all white until the late 1960s and early 1970s, Michigan State University head football coachDuffy Daugherty formed championship teams in 1965 and 1966 by recruiting the best southernblack players. While coaches in the North recruited black athletes and played them regularly by the mid-1950s, no other coach took the risks Daugherty did to integrate his teams.