Champion Of The World By Maya Angelou Summary

Beer, peanuts, hot dogs, team colors, cheering and clapping. When you read or hear these words together, what do you think of? Around the world, these words, when put together, symbolize something that brings people together and can also divide the closest of friends. These are the symbols of celebrated Sporting Events! People everywhere will argue that they don’t celebrate sporting events, but it is very rare that someone truly does not care about any sport at all. Sports fans come in all shapes, colors, sizes and nationalities! Sporting events have become one of the most important parts of today’s culture because sports can educate, create unity, and give people something to identify with and yes, even celebrate. Sports are a huge part of

In Maya Angelou’s narrative “Champion of the World”, she writes about Joe Louis, an African American boxer in the match of his life, against a white man. But it isn’t just Joe’s life that this one match affects; in fact, the lives of the entire town are impacted. The narrator describes “the last inch of space…filled, yet people continued to wedge themselves along the walls of the Store” (484). The atmosphere quiet and the whole town listening to one single radio where the announcer said “ladies and gentlemen” not realizing that he was addressing “all the Negroes around the world who sat sweating and praying” (485). Angelou portrays the importance of this one boxing match to the entire African American community. The unity of all African Americans across America on the day Joe Louis was crowned heavyweight champion shows that sports have become a huge part of

The way that people identify with teams and celebrate sporting events such as the World Cup, the Olympics, the Super Bowl, and more express the impact of sports on our culture. Angelou’s narrator in “Champion of the World” recounts everyone in the Store knowing that “Louis going down” was her “people falling. It was another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on a tree. One more woman ambushed and raped…” (486). The entire race did not just support Louis; they counted on him to help them, relieve them of slavery, assure them that they were “higher than apes” (486). Angelou notes after Louis is crowned the heavyweight champion “we were the strongest people in the world” (488). Their reliance on one man, one African American boxer that they all identify with, exemplifies the impact that sports has on culture. Joe Louis’ boxing win meant everything to African Americans all around the United States. The importance of sports is only furthered by Felisa Rogers’ article “How I Learned to Love Football”. Rogers describes her husband Rich as being obsessed with the Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Brett Favre. After going through difficult times such as “ my grandmother [dying], our aged Honda broke down, Rich’s mom and grandmother suffered from serious health problems, we kept getting closer to broke”, Rich found an escape in watching and rooting for the Green Bay Packers. Favre and his team led Rich to happiness in