Guided Study - Black Athletes and Cold War Politics
Thomas, D. (2007). Let the games begin: Sport, US race relations and Cold War politics. International Journal of the History of Sport
, 24
(2), 157-171.
What was the symbolic importance of Jackie Robinson? What was suggested by the integration of professional baseball?
What was the Truman Doctrine?
How were African American protest organizations affected by anti-communist
sentiments and federal loyalty programs? (think: NAACP)
How did a compromise between Truman and the NAACP result in the mainstreaming of the civil rights movement?
How did Soviet propaganda target US civil rights issues?
What did the US government do to silence dissenting black voices, like Paul Robeson and WEB Du Bois? What role did Jackie Robinson play in the Robeson’s case?
Which sports were preferred of the athletic goodwill tours?
How was the Dons tour in Latin America a powerful tool to engender positive feelings about American race relations? Why was it particularly important to demonstrate this in Latin American cities like Guayaquil, Ecuador?
What was the purpose of basketball goodwill tours?
What was the State Department’s three-pronged approach to transforming international understandings of race relations? Why was sport a prominent feature of the State Department’s approach?
What was an unintended consequence of the athlete goodwill tours? How did this affect the goodwill tours?
Why was the inclusion of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on a goodwill basketball tour to Africa controversial to some?
How did Jabbar speak about American values and American foreign policy while on the goodwill tour? How successful was the tour?
How was Jabbar symbolic of a shift in the model of black athletes set up by sportsmen like Jesse Owens, Rafer Johnson, and Joe Louis?
