Analysis Of Benching Jim Crow By Charles Martin

When the topic of segregation is brought up many instantly think of the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement. Many also think of the ‘separate by equal’ ideology that existed for years after the Supreme Court case of Plessy vs. Ferguson. Such an ideology created laws and norms to have separate facilities for people of color from whites. However, these ideologies did not just pertain to public facilities, but also within them, such as sports. In the book, Benching Jim Crow by Charles Martin, the author gives an in-depth analysis of the segregation and color lines that existed in college sports from the 1890s through the 1980s. Overall, what Martin was trying to get across in his book was to examine how college-level sports, specifically basketball

Martin also used an expository writing style which was shown as he presented an occurrence, explained it, and used evidence to support it. With such writing styles, the author provided an in-depth introduction to what the purpose of the book was and how it had an overall impact on the athletic industry in universities. A conclusion is also provided which ties together all the ideas presented throughout the chapters and reflects on how these events combined pushed for integration of people of color in college sports. Throughout the chapters, the themes noticed were how social structures and racial ideologies were present in the United States and the types of movements or policies put in place to challenge such structures. To support his thesis, Martin used factual records such as different news media and university archives during the time frame of 1890 and 1980. He also utilized old interviews, especially from former African American athletes, to understand the racial atmosphere that existed in college

This university was focused on mainly because it was the first university in an ex-confederate state to integrate people of color into their campus. Chapter five is focused on the Atlantic Coast Conference and how it began to integrate football programs to push for national competition among universities despite the racial makeup of the team. In addition to football, the Atlantic Coast Conference also played a role in basketball over integrating college sports, which was examined in chapter six. Moving on to chapter seven, the author continues to analyze sports conferences, specifically the Southwest Conference. With this conference, it is shown how they did not attempt to break through the color line like most southern states already had. Finally, chapter eight and nine continue to explain the resistance colleges, that were under the Southwest Conference, had against integration. It also then describes how eventually such resistance had to come to an end and the idea of segregated sports was no longer