In his foreword, Russell states that his fight in life was to be respected, not to be liked. He believed that it was right to fight, because everyone must do that which he or she believes is right. While growing up in the South, as an African American, he merely existed, but in California he realized that there was a double standard among the races. Through repetition, he writes, African Americans learn that they are inferior nonpersons. Therefore, they lose respect for themselves and for society.

While growing up, Russell admired and was influenced by his father, Charlie Russell, who gave up his trucking business to keep his family together in Oakland, California, after his mother died. Among the few white teachers whom Russell respected was George Powell, who also was his junior varsity coach. Instead of degrading and humiliating his students and players, Powell encouraged them. Russell was not a good basketball player, but Powell gave him money to join the Boys Club and to play in the pickup scrimmages. This generosity, he writes, perhaps saved him from becoming a juvenile delinquent.

By his senior year in high school, Russell learned to play basketball well enough to win a scholarship to the University of San Francisco. While the pressure to cheat existed, Russell avoided the temptation. He stresses, however, that he was attending the university to play basketball. He did not graduate, but he was twice the star of a national championship team and was signed by the Celtics in 1956.

Russell learned to respect Walter Brown, the owner of the Celtics and founder of the NBA, because Brown had moral courage. From the beginning, the Celtics were in financial trouble, and Brown had emptied every penny of his own money into the team. Finally, Lou Pieri loaned Brown twenty-five thousand dollars, and gradually the financial problems were overcome. It was in the midst of these problems that Russell was signed by Brown. Being a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic team, Russell joined the Celtics two months late. His salary was supposed to be reduced by six thousand dollars, but because he was on the U.S. gold medal basketball team, Brown deducted only three thousand. From that moment on, Russell claims, he never had an argument with Brown over pay.

Russell was the only African American on the Celtics, and he came to believe by 1958 that there was an unwritten law in professional basketball that no team should have more than two African-American players. Russell confronted Brown on this issue, who said that he did not look at color. Because of his respect for Brown, Russell had confronted him in private, but he did make general statements to the press. Finally, the owners did away with the quota, and Russell believed that he had a role in that event.

A part of Russell’s fight for respect took place on the court. The players test rookies to discover whether they have the mettle for a game that often includes violent pushing and shoving. Russell writes that he experienced only two fights in his professional career. One fight involved a player with the Los Angeles Lakers who continued to taunt Russell during a game. Russell finally challenged the player, who suffered a broken jaw in their altercation, and afterward Russell was left alone.

Perhaps the worst part of his fight for respectability was the loneliness. Professional basketball involves long trips and long hours, which can be lonely and tense. Because of segregated hotels and restaurants in the South and Midwest, Russell’s loneliness was compounded. These experiences, the unwritten quota, and other issues were discussed in Russell’s 1958 Sports Illustrated article. Russell claims that he told the truth out of pride.

In the context of his basketball career, Russell became an activist early in the Civil Rights movement. He argues there can be no neutralism in the battle for human rights. For example, in the summer of 1963, shortly after Medgar Evers was killed, Charlie Evers invited Russell to conduct a three-day basketball clinic in Jackson, Mississippi. In the midst of the racial hatred and violence, Russell attended, against the advice of his family and friends.