Essay on African American Athlete Their Role in American...

Sports played and continue to play a pivotal role in American history and culture. Baseball provided an escape from the stress and frustration of WWII, a beacon of light during hard times and later helped influence integration. Athletes became symbols of what being a true American meant and many sports enhanced American culture. One of the most prolific changes sports brought to our society was the beginning of racial equality on the field. It encouraged and aided the fledgling equal rights movement that evolved in the 1960s. African American athletes were considered second-class citizen until sports provided the first taste of equality. Teams life the Indians, Dodgers and Giants led the way for all teams to accept black players on†¦show more content†¦Sports for African Americans were played on the streets and in their own local recreation centers. These facilities were not abundant and therefore substantially limited African American access to organized sports. As o rganized sports began to flourish in the white communities, blacks began to organize and become more interested in participation in black organized sports. As the demand increased, a number of recreation centers and programs were instituted to keep blacks separated from the whites. For example, the YMCA was an established program in America that catered to urban white communities encouraging families to participate in all types of sporting activities. The YMCA programs offered sponsored teams and leagues to encourage a healthy lifestyle and provide an outlet for the average white American to participate in sport. The YMCA, however, did not include black Americans. In 1928, due to economic and political pressures, the YMCA was encouraged to provide the same outlet to black Americans, so it opened a â€Å"colored† branch. (citation needed) Due to the ever-growing and continued controversy of inequality, â€Å"the racial compromise was to build a YMCA on the Hill, design ated as the ‘colored’ branch among the fourteen local facilities operating in 1928.† Even as the industrial growth surged in this country and more blacks were working side by side with their white counterparts, the segregation ofShow MoreRelatedSports Media Essay1063 Words   |  5 Pagesactivities rooted in heroism and romanticism. Sports activities today, however, have no such innocence or simplicity. Currently in America, the activities that make up our sports culture is not only the competitive events themselves but the processes and issues that underlie and surround them. Entwined in our sports culture is the giant business of mass broadcasting. Indeed, sports and the media go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly, like Mickey and Minnie, Darth Vader and Luke. 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