Following in the footsteps of Paul Robeson, Muhammed Ali, Jackie Robinson, and others, today's black athletes re-engage with social issues and the meaning of American patriotism. Sports journalist Bryant observes how the tradition of neutrality on the pitch has given way to a new generation of activist-athletes.

In The Heritage, journalist Howard Bryant observes the rise, fall, and resurgence of elite black athletes who refuse to shut up and play. It is a heritage built by the influence of the superstardom of Paul Robeson, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, and others through the 1960s; undermined by apolitical transcenders of race, O.J. Simpson, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods in the following decades; and reclaimed today by the likes of LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, and Carmelo Anthony. Through research and interviews with some of sports' best-known stars, as well as members of law enforcement and the military, Bryant details the collision of post-9/11, hyper-patriotic American sports, and politically engaged post-Ferguson black athletes.