Essay On Racism In Sports

Racial Discrimination in Baseball David Odom English 7-8 Argument Research Paper Professor Yoder Abstract This paper will talk about Racial Discrimination in baseball. More specifically how blacks in the early 1900s where discriminated against because of there color, the teams that the African Americans formed, one of the best African American baseball players of all time Andrew "Rube" Foster, why racial discrimination is wrong, why some believe that racial discrimination is right, and finally what the Holy Bible has to say about it. Introduction

In today’s day and age, many, if not most, people enjoy sports either by playing, coaching or spectating. At a certain point in time, not everyone was able to do these things. During the Civil Rights Movement, sports were turned upside down and sports became accessible to a wider range of people. Many important athletes such as Jackie Robinson came out of the era and opened the public’s eye. Several became activists or coaches and changed sports in a way that hadn’t been done before. Outside of their sports they became public role models and were looked up to. They overcame obstacles and fought through a lot of adversity not only from opponents and spectators but teammates as well. Had the advancement of sports during the Civil RIghts Movement

The minority athlete then becomes the symbol of the American dream for people in the United States and in the athlete’s home country. For most Asian athletes, this narrative of success entrenches themselves as a racial model minority (Joo, 2012). Being labeled a model minority suggests that Asian athletes are obsessive conformers, highly intelligent, rigorously self-disciplined people, and excessively hard-workers. The model minority stereotype appears to be very positive because it categorizes those Asians/Asian Americans as law-abiding and self-sufficient citizens, who completely embrace core American values. Yet, this perceived positive sometimes provides negative resentment amongst other minority groups and the majority of culture due to the overall abundance of success which Asians have had in school and careers (Nixon, 2015).

Baseball is often considered America’s Pastime; a sport that has its roots in the foundation of the country and has been enjoyed by generation after generation. Heroes of the game have become types of folk heroes within the borders of the United States of America, and citizens from all backgrounds have come to venues from coast to coast in order to enjoy the game. The sports’ professional participants, as expected, have directly reflected racial standards of the country at any given time; the sport was dominated by whites until the color barrier was broken, ushering in new participants of different descents. The involvement of African Americans in Major League Baseball is extremely vital for the sport, and is a topic that has been somewhat addressed by the league’s hierarchy. Despite those efforts to increase African American participation, however, the black people of America have recently seen their representation in

According to Sports Institute Magazine, “ The degree to which these degrading segregation policies hurt black communities – in and outside of sports”. Jackie Robinson once said, “I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me… All I ask is your respect as a human being.” This was the main problem in sports. Coaches and managers didn't even care how good players were or what their personality was like.

Sports not only create a culture, they also affect culture. With every rise of a culture, new standards are established by individuals within the cultures boundaries. Participants involved with cultural decisions are affected by these established standards. Increasing those who are allowed to participate in sport competitions increase the poll of people who actively participate in the government. Champions make their mark upon the history of their culture and increase their spectators involvement in society.

Although over time gender discrimination has grown progressively over the years, one place that gender inequality is not fully present is in the sports world. Gender inequality in sports has been an issue in the industry for centuries. For years and years women faced the issues of lower pay, not as much publicity and not being appreciated as a female athlete. Clearly, even in this prevalent era of alleged equality and impartiality, most sports still remains as a male dominion, as there still is an unnoticed barrier between sport and woman. Through this analysis, I wanted to investigate some of the initial causes for the above circumstances.

Segregation also included all professional sports, but Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson sought to change that. These legends faced unbearable

In 1945, 2% of major leagues consisted of blacks and in 1995, 19% of major leagues consisted of blacks. The very first black person to play major league baseball was Jackie Robinson in 1947. By the 1970’s, a little less than a quarter of major league baseball players were black. Today, major league sports teams are much different than before, many teams consist of the minority being white people and the majority being other races. Segregation has changed immensely over time, in the past 5 decades blacks went from having no basic human rights to being recognized as equal beings and it shows through sports as well as many other areas of segregation such as the lack of opportunity and safety, segregation in schools, and discrimination in public

The athletes previously shown paved the way for more and more African american athletes in the major sports leagues, In today 's sports african americans are some of the best in their respective sports some examples of this are Lebron James in basketball, Serena Williams in tennis. Usain Bolt in track and field, tiger woods in golf, Simone Biles in Gymnastics, pele in soccer,and Muhammed Ali in Boxing. Because of the harlem renaissance athletes proving african americans deserve to participate in the major sports leagues just as much as anyone else. Many more african americans now have the ability to participate at the highest levels of their respective Sports.

200 years of sport in America: A pageant of a nation at play. New York: McGraw-Hill. Book Source 3: Platt, J., & Buckley, J. (2002). Sports immortals: Stories of inspiration and achievement. Chicago:

Over 60 years ago, America began the greatest shift in its society: the Civil Rights Movement. Before this movement began, Jim Crow laws were still in effect segregating blacks in certain schools, bathrooms, and even public buses (History.com). Over time, many in the black communities grew frustrated with the Jim Crow laws, because of their effectiveness in limiting an African American’s pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. With the new emphasis on equality a new athlete was ready to make American history, and it would come on the baseball field. Jackie Robinson, Hall of Fame MLB player, become the first African-American to every play on a Major League Baseball team.

Jesse Owens, an African American Athlete has accomplished various achievements in track and field. However, these accomplishments didn’t just make an impact in sports talks. Jesse Owens also contributed to the equality of African Americans with his determination and perseverance. Although it seems as if anyone could 've impacted the equality movement, Jesse Owens became the catalyst for change. This couldn 't have been achieved without Owens’ notoriety and athletic ability to defeat other competitors from other nations.

Racism has been a prominent dilemma from as far as the 18th century to today. We’ve made many improvements from the 1930s to today but we aren’t finished yet. By definition, racism is the prejudice, discrimination or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior. Racism and discrimination caused African Americans to be treated as inferiors and second class citizens. Throughout time, this led them to fear white people and what they could do to them.

It was 1945 and Jackie Robinson was still not allowed to play in the major leagues. One example of racism is when somebody calls you by your race and they don’t call you by name. Racism does exist in sports as shown through Jackie Robinson; Justice at Last and my observations.