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Sports and the Progress of Civil Rights in America

Sports and the Progress of Civil Rights in America. “We blowed out a cylinder-head.” “Good gracious! Anybody hurt?” “No’m. Killed a n----r.” “Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.” - Huck Finn and Aunt Sally Phelps The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , ch. 32.

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Sports and the Progress of Civil Rights in America

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  1. Sports and the Progress of Civil Rights in America “We blowed out a cylinder-head.”“Good gracious! Anybody hurt?”“No’m. Killed a n----r.”“Well, it’s lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt.”- Huck Finn and Aunt Sally PhelpsThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, ch. 32

  2. If we were composing a list of the top ten intersections between sports and the American civil rights movement, what historical events/people would you suggest we put on that list? Here’s one such list, for your consideration...

  3. Keys: Redskins, 1960s, “Tomahawk Chop” 10. American Indian Nicknames • “The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights calls for an end to the use of Native American images and team names by non-Native schools. The Commission deeply respects the rights of all Americans to freedom of expression under the First Amendment and in no way would attempt to prescribe how people can express themselves. However, the Commission believes that the use of Native American images and nicknames in school is insensitive and should be avoided.” -- 2001 1930s-1972: The Stanford U. Indian. Now: Stanford Cardinal

  4. Keys: Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Martha Burk, Augusta National 9. The PGA: Tradition Incarnate • Golf has a special mystique as a white, upper-class sport • Only “members of the Caucasian race” could join the PGA into the 1960s, long after all other major pro sports were integrated • According to a former chairman of the club where the Masters tournament is held: “as long as I’m alive, the players will always be white and the caddies will always be black.” • Sportswriter Rick Reilly on Tiger Woods’s historic 1997 win: "Clear in the back, near the service entrance, the black cooks and waiters and busboys ripped off their oven mitts and plastic gloves, put their dishes and trays down for a while, hung their napkins over their arms and clapped the loudest and the hardest and the longest for the kind of winner they never dreamed would come through those doors."

  5. Keys: Venus and Serena Williams 8. Althea Gibson and Arthur Ashe • Another “lily-white” sport like golf, tennis’ integration had significant symbolic value • Gibson won five Grand Slam singles titles (plus six doubles) in the 1950s • Ashe won two Grand Slam singles titles in the 1960s and 1970s, and was an activist in the sports world and beyond The great women’s star Alice Marble said, “If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of players, then it's only fair that they meet this challenge on the courts,” and the tennis world listened.

  6. 7. Leave this spot open for now -- there are so many good choices!

  7. Keys: New York Rens, Sweetwater Clifton , Chuck Cooper, Texas Western University 6. Globetrotters def. NBA • 1948 and 1949 exhibitions: Harlem Globetrotters defeated the Minneapolis Lakers, the premier white team • 1950: African-Americans drafted into the NBA • The Globetrotters were never the greatest team in the world again, and they became less and less serious, but the point had been made. Despite the presence of George Mikan, the NBA’s first dominant big man, the Trotters won the first two meetings between the teams.

  8. Keys: Muhammad Ali, Harry Edwards 5. Tommie Smith and John Carlos • 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City: Black Power salute on the medal stand, for which they were suspended from the U.S. team, and the symbolism of what they wore on the stand • In the ’60s, political activism crept into sports: life and sport were not separate The Australian silver medalist participated too, by wearing a badge

  9. Keys: Josef Goebbels, Avery Brundage 4. Jesse Owens • 1936 Olympics in Berlin: despite Hitler’s claims for the superiority of the Aryan people, Owens wins four golds, ruining Hitler’s Aryan showcase • "When I came back to my native country, after all the stories about Hitler, I couldn't ride in the front of the bus," Owens said. "I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. I wasn't invited to shake hands with Hitler, but I wasn't invited to the White House to shake hands with the President, either." • Owens was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City upon his return from the Olympics, but had to ride the freight elevator to a party at a fancy hotel because he was black.

  10. Keys: Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Mia Hamm 3. Title IX and Billie Jean King • 1972: Assured equitable, proportionate funding for girls’/womens’ sports (compared with boys’/mens’ sports) in schools • Billie Jean King def. Bobby Riggs, 1973 • Martina Navratilova: King “was a crusader fighting a battle for all of us. She was carrying the flag; it was all right to be a jock.”

  11. Keys: Jack Johnson, Max Schmeling 2. Joe Louis • Not the first black heavyweight champion, but the first to be widely beloved by whites • Louis, not normally outspoken on rights issues, was sometimes accused of being an “Uncle Tom” • Sportswriter Jimmy Cannon, on how some referred to Louis as a “credit to his race”: “Yes, Louis is a credit to his race -- the human race.” 1938: a rematch, a title fight, and symbols of a looming war

  12. Keys: Montreal Royals, Pee Wee Reese, Ben Chapman, 1947 1. Jackie Robinson • Baseball had been integrated, slightly and casually, in the 19th century • Collusion by owners led baseball to become all white • Negro Leagues: 1920s-1950s • Integrated college sports were becoming more common (in some parts of the country) • Branch Rickey’s deal: “enough guts not to fight back…”

  13. “Jackie Robinson's impact was greater than just that of baseball. He was a transforming agent and in the face of such hostility and such meanness and violence, he did it with such amazing dignity. He had to set the course for the country.”- the Rev. Jesse Jackson on ESPN's SportsCentury

  14. I also want to include…- Frank Robinson (first African-American Major League baseball manager, 1974)- championship coaches Lenny Wilkins and K.C. Jones in the NBA- Fritz Pollard and Art Shell, groundbreaking African-American NFL head coaches- Muhammad Ali (politically outspoken heavyweight and Olympic boxing champ)- Doug Williams, first African-American quarterback to win a Super Bowl (1988)- Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, the Jewish-American athletes excluded from the U.S. Olympic 4x100 meter team in 1936 in order to appease the anti-Semitism of host Adolf Hitler- Jim Thorpe

  15. Sources:Intro page: Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Nina Baym, ed. Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol. C (1865-1914), 6th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2003.Intro page: “Jackie Robinson First Day”. 28 Mar 2006. <www.photofile.com/Photos/ Albums/16_X_20_Album/>Ashe, Arthur R., Jr. A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete Since 1946. New York: Warner Books, 1988.10. Ilves, Luukas. “Anatomy of a Revolution: A brief history of the Stanford Indian.” 17 Mar 2006. The Stanford Review Online Edition. 28 Mar 2006. <http://www.stanfordreview.org/Archive/Volume_XXXVI/Issue_4/Features/features2.shtml>10. “Statement of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on the Use of Native American Images and Nicknames as Sports Symbols”. 13 Apr 2001. American Indian Sports Team Mascots. 28 Mar 2006. <http://www.aistm.org/2001usccr.htm>9. “Golf Discrimination.” 29 Sep 2005. Metamedia at Stanford: Archeolog - All Things Archaeological. 28 Mar 2006. <http://metamedia.stanford.edu:3455/MichaelShanks/668>9. McCarten, John. “The literary twists of Augusta National.” 4 Apr 2000. Golfweb.com. 28 Mar 2006. <www.golfweb.com/u/ce/multi/0,1977,2218188,00.html>8. Schwartz, Larry. “Althea Gibson broke barriers.” ESPN.com. 29 Mar 2006. <espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00014035.html>6. Kreidler, Mark. “ In a league of their own.” 19 Feb 2005. ESPN.com. 28 Mar 2006. <espn.go.com/nba/columns/kreidler_mark/1511263.html>5. Gettings, John. “ Civil Disobedience: Black medalists raise fists for Civil Rights Movement.” Infoplease.com. 29 Mar 2006. <www.infoplease.com/spot/mm-mexicocity.html>4. Schwartz, Larry. “ Owens pierced a myth.” ESPN.com. 28 Mar 2006. <espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016393.html>3. “ Achieving Success Under Title IX.” 10 Jul 1997. U.S. Department of Education. 29 Mar 2006. <http://www.ed.gov/pubs/TitleIX/part5.html>3. Kindred, Dave. “ King of the Tennis World.” 10 Jun 1999. The Sporting News online. 28 Mar 2006. <www.sportingnews.com/archives/sports2000/moments/163929.html>3. Schwartz, Larry. “ Billie Jean won for all Women.” ESPN.com. 28 Mar 2006. <http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/King_Billie_Jean.html>2. Schwartz, Larry. “ ‘Brown Bomber’ was a hero to all.” ESPN.com. 28 Mar 2006. <espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016109.html>1. “resources: multi-cultural calendar”. 2006. Virginia Education Association. 28 Mar 2006. <http://www.veaweteach.org/images/photos/people/Jackie_Robinson.jpg>1. Sailer, Steve. “How Jackie Robinson Desegregated America.” National Review. 8 Apr 1996. www.isteve.com. 27 Mar 2006. <www.isteve.com/JackieRobinson.htm>1. Schwartz, Larry. “A hero for generations.” ESPN.com. 28 Mar 2006. <espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00107091.html>

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