Perry Wallace was born at an historic crossroads in U.S. history. He entered kindergarten the year that the Brown v. Board of Education decision led to integrated schools, allowing blacks and whites to learn side by side. A week after Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech, Wallace enrolled in high school and his sensational jumping, dunking, and rebounding abilities quickly earned him the attention of college basketball recruiters from top schools across the nation. In his senior year his Pearl High School basketball team won Tennessee's first racially-integrated state tournament. The world seemed to be opening up at just the right time, and when Vanderbilt University recruited Wallace to play basketball, he courageously accepted the assignment to desegregate the Southeastern Conference. The hateful experiences he would endure on campus and in the hostile gymnasiums of the Deep South turned out to be the stuff of nightmares. Yet Wallace persisted, endured, and met this unthinkable challenge head on. This insightful biography digs deep beneath the surface to reveal a complicated, profound, and inspiring story of an athlete turned civil rights trailblazer.

"Adaped for young people from Strong Inside: Perry Wallace and the Collision of Race and Sports in the South published by Vanderbilt University Press in 2014."

A dangerous place -- Short 26th -- Freedom song -- Pearl of the community -- The woomp show -- Not just another game -- They had the wrong guy -- The name of the game -- Champions! -- The promise -- The surprise -- Dangerous territory -- History made them wrong -- Hit or miss -- Crazy people -- Sudden impact -- What about justice? -- The invisible man -- Slammed shut -- As good as It gets -- The sudden fall -- Nightmares -- Hate, defeated -- A river of tears -- Death of a dream -- Truth to power -- The cruel deception -- All alone -- Nevermore -- Bachelor of ugliness -- He saved the best for last -- Ticket out of town.