A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team Free Audiobook Download by Arshay Cooper

A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team is about an all black high school rowing team that formed in 1971. This year the story follows a new generation of rowers, four rowers including Reggie Lees, who are training for the Head of the Charles regatta in 1980.

This book is an epistolary novel that follows the story of five young men, all of whom have been shut out of sports teams and schools in their hometowns. They find life outside of their neighborhoods to be much different than they expected. However, they are able to form a friendship and they make the decision to do so by learning how to row. The real story begins when the students think about competing at Henley Royal Regatta in England with the crew team from a historically black college and high school in Virginia

"A Most Beautiful Thing" is a story of American history, sports, and human spirit. In 1876, Thomas Hayward and three African-American students from New England founded the first public school in America to offer high-level rowing programs for black students. The sport of rowing was considered "white" and the team members were told they would not be allowed to participate if they did not straighten their hair.

Before the Civil War, African Americans were largely prohibited from participating in organized athletics. However, when a group of young black men started to row together on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, they made history as America's first all-black high school rowing team. The team was formed by three talented young athletes who dreamed of attending college and escaping discrimination: George (Bose) Washington, Frank Blumenauer, and William Dubois. These sailing pioneers were members of the Tom Brown Club, an exclusive society for African American men who enjoyed rowing on the Schuylkill River. They won their matches against other high schools in Philadelphia until 1883 when they realized that their dream might not be attainable.

The story of America's first all-black high school rowing team is a beautiful one. The story begins in 1965, when the Florida city of Marianna began to desegregate its schools. Racism was still rampant in much of the United States and sport was an area where race relations were especially tumultuous. For African Americans, sports were often the last refuge of their pride and athletic excellence was a way for them to assert their identity against racism. As such, rowing provided an opportunity for racial integration in a sport that had always been dominated by white males and collegiate athletes.

The first all-black high school rowing team in America, the Apollo Club Crew at Lincoln High School in New York City, was formed a little over thirty years ago. The book tells their story through the eyes of three members of the team: Hosea Williams, captain of the boat; his best friend and teammate, Steve Davis; and Billy Tilden, a student at the school whose dedication to rowing helped open up this opportunity for black students.