Rate My Professor Louis Moore

Louis Moore served as Associate Professor of History in the History Department at Grand Valley State University from 2008 to 2025. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Davis. Moore's academic interests center on African American history, sports history, and gender history, with a specialization in the Black athlete and the intersections between race, sports, and civil rights. At Grand Valley State University, he taught courses in U.S. history, African American history, civil rights history, and sports history, including the course 'The Black Athlete in History.' He also directed the Africana Studies Program, mentored students, and served as a campus leader.

Moore is the author of three books: I Fight for a Living: Boxing and the Battle for Black Manhood, 1880-1915 (University of Illinois Press, 2017), We Will Win the Day: The Civil Rights Movement, the Black Athlete, and the Quest for Equality (University Press of Kentucky, 2017), and The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback (PublicAffairs, 2024). He produced two Audible lectures for The Great Courses: African American Athletes Who Made History and A Pastime of Their Own: The Story of Negro League Baseball. Moore co-hosts The Black Athlete podcast and has published articles in The New York Daily News, Vox, The Global Sports Institute, First and Pen, and the African American Intellectual History Society. His scholarship has earned recognition through a Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grant from Grand Valley State University in 2012-2013, supporting his presentation 'What Happened to the White Athlete?' at the Organization of American Historians conference. Moore's expertise has influenced public discourse, with media appearances on NPR, MSNBC, CNN, BBC Sports, and Good Morning America. Following his tenure at Grand Valley State University, he joined Michigan State University as Professor of History in fall 2025.