In What Ways Did Sport Reflect Amercian Society in the 19th Century

The Negro Leagues flourished from 1920 to 1951, with the first all-pro African American team actually being formed in 1885.1 From that time period, a handful of players made their way to stardom. Of those players, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Jackie Robison among others had a monumental

In the book titled Race, Sports, and the American Dream, it discussed how sports helped change the place of African-American in society. “Sports was well segregated deep into the 20th century” (Smith 9). How college football looked in America in the 1950s was exactly how American society looked in the 1950s, segregated and racist. African-American athletes in college football helped fight and negate stereotypes because it showed that they are equally as good

Sports are prominent in today’s culture more than ever. Almost everyone watches them, has a favorite team, or even competes in sports, but this wasn't always the case. In the early 1800’s, Americans were opposed to sports. Organized sports like the ones that we have today were not common at all. The idea of sports wasn’t even on the radar of most people.

Rhoden wrote, “Integration in sports—as opposed to integration at the ballot box or in public conveyances—was a winning proposition for the whites who controlled the sports industrial complex.” Arthur Foster

Following the Civil War in the United States, African-Americans still faced extreme forms of racism and troubles all the way up until the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. African-Americans were excluded from nearly all forms of participating in society including the ability to participate in professional sports and be paid at the same level as white athletes. The segregation of sports in this country was never declared by law, however it is something that our culture refused to accept (Reese). The eventual integration of sports in the United States, beginning with baseball and boxing, played a major role in the Civil Rights Movement and had a lasting impact on

The American Civil War was ending and African Americans gained freedom, freedom from slavery and to live life as common folk. However, being set ‘free’ was not enough for African Americans to really experience what freedom was really like. Respect and rights of citizenship are by themselves weak in the ability to survive without also obtaining economic power. This paper will examine the progression of African Americans after the Civil War of 1865.

The central idea of “Why sports history is American history” by Mark Naison, The Glider Lehrman Institute of American History is, how the influence of African Americans, Italians, and Jewish people to migrate them into sports.

During the Gilded age many social class, racial walls and gender bias developed lines walls and boundaries for people. The funny thing about that is as new boundaries, walls and limitations were being built sports and the development of it broke them down or found new ways for the different genders and races to find ways to use sports as an outlet. Women were constantly fighting for their right to be involved in sports and pushing the limits as to what social norm deemed acceptable for them to be allowed to play. Working class women started to compete professionally in rowing competitions; they played crocket and played lawn tennis. The American pastime of baseball was well on its way and all though baseball had a huge racial division as to who could play mainly African Americans not being accepted, but they developed their own league and contrary to the belief that Jackie Robinson was the first pro ball player there was another before him by the name of Moses Fleetwood Walker. Moses was the product of a inter racial relations with a black dad and white mom he also attended college at University of Michigan and was the first African American Pro Baseball player. After that he would venture into entrepreneurism, be a newspaper editor, author as well as an inventor. He was quite the Renaissance man living the "American Dream" despite social and racial ideologies. Collegiate level sporting really started to take off during this time and the development of another

Life in the south for African Americans was nothing but a new form of slavery. Most African American’s were sharecroppers making little to no money to live while being oppressed by white southerners. Daily life in the south for African American’s was full of insults, rude looks, persecution and discrimination as well as the constant risk of being killed. African American’s in the south hated living there but, felt as if they had no other choice at the time it was the first and only available option for southern slaves after the civil war. African American’s wanted a better life and to be treated as they were told

In the 1920’s, workers began to have more leisure time in industrialized towns and cities which led to organized sports. The most popular sports were boxing, baseball, basketball, and football. Baseball was considered as the ‘national pastime’. Sports were racially segregated ion North Carolina. Women had limited opportunities to play sports.

Ray Chapman is known as the only MLB player to die from an injury. He was hit by a pitch and eventually died in the club house (“One pitch” par. 1). Today, all MLB athletes are required to wear helmets when batting, to protect them from severe injuries. Sports in the 1920s were the start of a new concept. It was a new idea to people that changed a lot in society and their views on sports.

Sports participation is something that is looked at closely in todays society because of the amount of participants there are in sports today. Social classes and participation is heavily influenced by the way people live their lives, where they live, what country they live in , and perhaps most importantly, the socioeconomic class they may fall into. In some understatements, sports may serve as an identifier of what social class a family or individual may fall into, simply by looking at who we are dealing with and what sport this individual may play. As a student in a sport sociology class we find trends in countries worldwide when comparing certain sport involvement and social class. Throughout this essay I will have three arguments that will support my point about social class and participation in sports. My first point will be how economic resources affect the middle-class, second will be how social capital affects middle-class sports, and lastly lower-class and participation in sports.

This essay will be an attempt to bring together the ideas from our class readings about the Marxist sociological perspective as well as insight from other readings to further my understanding of Marxism and its applications to sport. I will lay the groundwork for the theory then proceed with how his theory is applied to accessibility issues in sport, distribution of power in sport and commercialization of sport.

After four hundred years of slavery and forced outdoor labor, African-Americans migrated in masses to US cities after the Civil War and the end of slavery. Even more left the rural communities of the South during the Great Depression. Jim Crow laws and other forms of discrimination restricted movement and segregation minorities to urban enclaves until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Although segregation is no longer legal and hate crimes are rare, the adventure gap is still there, a mysterious culture barrier forged in social memory. While African-Americans collectively enjoy greater freedom, as individuals they may not feel free to adventure widely, which is a issues that still stands in today views.

This essay discusses in detail about the relationship between class stratification and sport in regards to two sociologists views; Karl Marx and Bero Rigauer. These theories specify that sports are shaped by unequal distribution of power in social classes demonstrated in terms of access, control, and social mobility.