I. Controversy at the 1968 Olympics! At the 1968 Olympic games a track runner by the Name of Tommy Harper took a stand against racism and inequality by winning the 400 M. dash. As he was awarded his gold medal, he clenched his fist and raised it high in the Air while wearing a black glove. A raised fist was the symbol of equality for the black Power movement of the 1960‘s. African Americans have made a huge impact on the civil Rights movement, especially in sports. The 1940’s and the 1950’s were a rough time in Sports because African Americans were just now being able to play in professional sports. They had to deal with racism, prejudice, and hate. People might have well ruined the Meaning of playing a sport. The only reason to play a sport is to contest yourself against Others to see if you’re better than them. If you don’t allow a certain group of people to play Then what’s the point? Even now in modern sports, Blacks have made one of the biggest Impacts on the game, raising the standard of play and the quality of the game. II. African Americans have made the biggest impact on football since they have been Allowed to play in 1922. A. It is a fact that there are more African American football players than Asian, Latino, and White players in football. i. There are currently no active white cornerbacks in the NFL. ii. Every defense in the NFL is dominated by black players. iii. 89% of all defenses M.V.P’s are black. B. Black players have made an impact but not as big as white players. i. The NFL is mostly made up of white QB’s (the most important position). ii. There is no position that is only available to black players. iii. As long as a player works hard enough, it doesn't matter what race you are, you can play any Po... ... middle of paper ... ... of all of the “X” factors that is put together to make a great player. D. Tommy Harper proved to the world that no matter what race you are, if you try hard in what you love, you can achieve greatness. Success is given, not earned. Works Cited "Black Athletes in 20th Century United States." Black Athletes in 20th Century United States. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. "Black History in America: Athletes." Black History in America: Athletes. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. Black Contributions to American Professional Football Are Many." Welcome To The Black Box, Personal Narratives in High Definition. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013. " Doris R. Corbett WaynePatterson." THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SPORT. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2013. "Feature African-American Athletes." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
Negro baseball leagues have a deep historical significance. Racism and “Jim Crow” laws encouraged segregation of African-Americans and whites. Arguably, the players on the negro baseball leagues were some of the best ever. Even today they are still being recognized and honored for their wonderful contribution to baseball as a whole. It started when major league owners had made a “gentleman’s agreement” to keep blacks from playing in the game. The barrier that went up was finally broken with a few black players being signed into white teams in the 1940s. It was once said by Martin Luther King Jr., “[Segregation] gives the segregator a false sense of superiority, it gives the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” While that is true of the times and conditions, I tend to believe that the negro baseball players had a different type of pride that kept them strong and helped blacks eventually gain equality. This still affects us as a society because we will always continue to look for equal opportunity.
Williams, Peter. The sports immortals: deifying the American athlete. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1994.. 30-31
The issue of race in sport is somewhat baffling in that many people would rather not address at all even though sport has been intricately intertwined with racial issues throughout the Twentieth century. Those who would have us omit the topic altogether argue that analyses typically single out the black athlete, and then attempt to explain his/her inordinate success in ways different than we do with other groups. Critics contend that this is racist, since it perpetuates the idea that blacks are different, and often inferior. Edwards (1972) asserts that a typical theme resulting from such analysis is that blacks are physically superior, but intellectually inferior, to whites. Hoberman (1997) has further made the case that physical prowess, especially in such sports as basketball, has become a defining characteristic of the African-American community, and that beliefs about physical superiority are closely related to an anti-intellectualism that permeates black male culture. Essentially, Hoberman’s argument is that inordinate attention and idolization of prominent black athletes such as Michael Jordan has focused attention away from more realistic and important role models, and this, in turn has stunted intellectual, and social economic development in black communities.
In baseball for instance, African Americans were barred from participation in the National Association of Baseball Players because of regional prejudice and unofficial color bans dating back to the 1890s. Due to this segregation, blacks worked together to create the Negro Leagues. These leagues comprised mostly all African-American teams. As a whole, the Negro Leagues overtime became one of the largest and most successful enterprises run by African Americans. Their birth and resilient growth stood as a testament to the determination and drive of African-Americans to battle the imposing racial segregation and social disadvantage. After years of playing in an association for blacks, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier by participating in the Dodgers ' organization. His excellence at this level opened the gates for other African Americans to be accepted into a less segregated Major League Baseball, and in 1949 the Negro Leagues disbanded. Soon after Robinson 's inclusion into organized baseball, Roy Campanella, Joe Black, Don Newcombe, and Larry Doby all joined Robinson as significant black players that helped foil the racial divide. By 1952, 150 black players were in organized baseball. Racism has many forms from verbal racial abuse aimed towards players, managers and supporters, to indirect and institutional discrimination all of which can result in specific minority ethnic communities being excluded, to a greater or lesser degree, from football. In all forms this is unacceptable behavior. Of course racism is not a problem of football’s making, but, because of the game’s popularity, it has a disproportionate effect on it compared to other sports and walks of life. Football is the national game. It has enormous resonance, and should be enjoyed by people of all ages from all different backgrounds. The creation of an offence of racist “chanting” at football grounds in the Football Offences Act
Have you ever heard about racial discrimination and what is it? Racial discrimination is defined as the action of a persons who treat differently or who excludes another person just for his or her racial or ethnic origin. Racial discrimination continues to exist in the world and may never end with it. For example, in the documentary "Linsanity" Lin mentions that he was a victim of racial discrimination and that despite everything that happened, he was able to reach the American dream. Finally, from watching this documentary, I can strongly be argued that Discrimination is also present in sports, and that depends on what privileges you enjoy will be easier the way to reach what you want.
Even when there were people that did not like the African Americans reaching success, that never stopped them from doing so. In the Olympic games African Americans did not get any respect from some people. African Americans had to step up and prove that they can things just like everyone else or even better. The Summer Olympics in Berlin were controversial because of their location, the presence of African American athletes, and Germany’s superior mentality.
The standout competitor Jesse Owens came from humble beginnings, and through him, people of the time and of future times can see the racial divide in America. Jesse Owens was a true to life representation of the American dream, and still is today. These games are not just about Jesse Owens, it was a army of successful black racers who defied the odds, and showed the world that not one race is truly more dominate over one another. Even Though the Nazi party promoted their ideals of their dominance, it was meaningless because of those hardworking mean who showed the world that we are the same. Jesse Owens and the 1936 Olympics truly Changed the
Sports may be a way out of poverty, but for very little. For the majority of minorities, sports is not an effective way out of poverty. Only about 1 in every 3,500 African American males make it into major league sports and mainly these sports consist of basketball, football, and baseball(very few). Minorities are largely missing from other sports and from positions such as team owners, managers, coaches, talent scouts, referees, and other major positions.
During the 1960s, an African American athlete was greeted everywhere they went by a negative name. Perry Wallace, Vanderbilt's standout forward who became the first black varsity player in the all-white Southeastern Conference in 1967-68 recalled, “I'm talking racial stuff, people threatening your life ... calling you nigger, 'coon,' `shoe polish.' The fir...
In a nation that is obsessed with football, quarterbacks are viewed, mainly quarterbacks in the NFL, as a fuse of captain of the shit, gunslinger and analyst, picking apart opposing defenses and making the major decisions with the game on the line, doing this all in a short time span with enormous defensive linemen closing in on them. Black men and those attributes do not seem to correlate with that of the NFL quarterback. Most heralded signal callers from Sammy Baugh to Tom Brady have been white.
From what I found, two players called John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised their fists while in medal ceremony of 200 meter running event, Carlos got bronze medal and Smith got gold medal, both of them are African-Americans. Also, along with Australian silver medalist Peter Norman, they all wore human rights badges on their jackets. The two US players received their medals shoeless, but wearing black socks, to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf around his neck to represent black pride, Carlos had his tracksuit top unzipped to show solidarity with all blue-collar workers in the US and wore a necklace of beads which he described “were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for, that were hung and tarred. It was for those thrown off the side of the boats in the Middle Passage.” (Dean, Black Power) This political protest was quite bold and unexpected, surprised lots of people obviously, especially it showed up in a global sports event like Olympic Games. Even though their behaviors did help in a way, for helping more and more people paying more attention for the human rights for African-Americans and other minorities, nonetheless, Norman received lots of criticize from Australian media after that, said that he didn’t have to do that just for empathy. I always think that all races should be treated
Baseball was on its way to becoming the nations number on sport.The setting is in 1860 African American got to see clubs and do those clubs for those 60 years.My interesting facts I liked to the Shut Out is the clubs African American got to see and do. Also, there were sports to fight that was dangerous.The problem is African American didn’t get to play baseball.The
Throughout sports history in America, minorities have had a sever disadvantage to succeeding. While the country has come a long way in integrating capable athletes in professional sports, there are several sports that have a white dominance. One rarely sees a minority on the swimming team. Caucasians dominate the golf and hockey leagues as well. One of the most prominent sports that is working on overcoming their racial barrier is gymnastics. Gymnastics is a white dominant sport, not only in America but around Europe as well. Ever since Dianne Durham was first African American to start competing on an elite level in the 1980s, there have only been a handful of black gymnasts recognised on the national level. It took until 1996 for a black gymnast to win a gold medal at the Olympics. Dominique Dawes competed in Atlanta and made history for being the first black person of any nationality to win a gold medal in gymnastics. While gymnastics has made progress including African Americans, they still have prejudices to overcome.
For instance, ?The American Dream of unlimited possibilities was shattered for black athletes. By 1900 most of them had successfully been excluded from American sport and were forced to establish their own separate sporting organizations. The most famous of these were the black baseball leagues, a loose aggregate of teams that did not achieve much organizational structure until Rube Foster founded the National Negro Baseball League in 1920. Late nineteenth-century black athletes were often disturbed by their inability to be classified by an...
Whitaker, Matthew C.. African American icons of sport: triumph, courage, and excellence. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008.