The Nineties in America - Salem Press (2009)

and alienation in the central cites actually got worse.
Several high-profile events, particularly the Rodney
King riots and the trial of O. J. Simpson, highlighted
the extent to which black and white Americans
viewed reality from radically different perspectives,
and the nation continued to become more racially
segregated. In 1997, President Bill Clinton hoped to
improve race relations with an initiative called “One
America.” When the advisory board of the initiative,
chaired by historian John Hope Franklin, held pub-
lic conversations, they frequently appeared to
harden the preexisting opinions of participants.
The board’s final report of 1998 endorsed the noble
ideas of promoting “racial reconciliation” and
“building bridges across races,” but the board was
unable to reach any consensus about specific pro-
posals that might help realize these objectives.

Further Reading
Carson, Clayborne, Emma J. Lapsansky-Werner, and
Gary B. Nash.The Struggle for Freedom: A Histor y of
African Americans. New York: Pearson/Longman,

2007. An excellent general history, including
      much material about the late twentieth century.
      Dickson-Carr, Darryl.Columbia Guide to Contemporar y
      African American Fiction.New York: Columbia Uni-
      versity Press, 2005. Excellent essays about the lives
      and writings of more than 150 famous and less-
      known authors.
      Painter, Nell Irvin.Creating Black Americans: African-
      American Histor y and Its Meanings, 1619 to the Pres-
      ent. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. A
      well-written survey, richly illustrated with beauti-
      ful works of art by African Americans.
      Pinkney, Alphonso.Black Americans. 5th ed. Upper
      Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1999. Informa-
      tion and analysis about the late twentieth century,
      including socioeconomic status, family structures,
      religion, social problems, and cultural assimila-
      tion.
      Roberts, Kevin.African American Issues. Westport,
      Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2006. Sociological anal-
      ysis of topics like discriminatory treatment, affir-
      mative action, stereotypes, and education.
      Thernstrom, Stephan, and Abigail Thernstrom.
      America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible.
      New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. A scholarly
      work that opposes affirmative action and argues
      that the country has made much progress in race
      relations.

West, Cornell. Race Matters. New York: Vintage

Books, 1994. A lively written book expressing the

ideology and frustrations of a left-of-center Afri-

can American intellectual.

Thomas Tandy Lewis

See also AIDS epidemic; Angelou, Maya; Barry,

Marion; Byrd murder case; Civil Rights Act of 1991;

Crown Heights riot; Diallo shooting; Drug use; El-

ders, Joycelyn; Farrakhan, Louis; Hate crimes; Hill,

Anita; Hip-hop and rap music; Johnson, Magic; Jor-

dan, Michael; Kwanzaa; Los Angeles riots; Louima

torture case; Minorities in Canada; Race relations;

Shakur, Tupac; Sharpton, Al;Shaw v. Reno; Simpson

murder case; Supreme Court decisions; Thomas,

Clarence; Washington, Denzel; Wilder, L. Douglas;

Winfrey, Oprah; Woods, Tiger.

 Agassi, Andre

Identification American tennis player

Born April 29, 1970; Las Vegas, Nevada

Agassi shared with Pete Sampras the distinction of being the

world’s best male professional tennis player during the

1990’s. He began the decade as a favorite of the media and

fans because of his rebellious image and ended the decade as

a kind of “elder statesman” of tennis. In the 1990’s, he won

five grand-slam events, was number one on five different oc-

casions, and was the Association of Tennis Professionals

Player of the Year in 1999.

During the 1990’s, Andre Agassi was on a roller-

coaster ride, with rankings from number one to 141.

Although he won some Association of Tennis Profes-

sionals (ATP) tournaments in 1990 and 1991, by

May of 1992 he was out of the top ten but recovered

to defeat Goran Ivanisevic in the finals at Wimble-

don, his first grand-slam victory since he turned pro-

fessional six years earlier. In 1993, his ranking

dropped as low as thirty-one, before he finished the

year at twenty-four. That year, Agassi started dating

actor Brooke Shields, whom he married in 1997.

The couple divorced in 1999.

In 1994, Agassi was unseeded in the U.S. Open

but went on to defeat Michael Stich for the champi-

onship, rising to number two in the rankings. His

first win at the Australian Open occurred in 1995

(he won the tournament three more times), when

he beat archrival Pete Sampras. Agassi ranked num-

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Agassi, Andre The Nineties in America