Marvin Smith III

Period 1,2

Civil Sports Movement

    Many of us know about the Civil Rights Movement and the impact it had on not just African Americans but all minorities. The Civil Rights Movement started in 1954  and ended in 1968. It is one of the most powerful and important movements that has ever taken place in U.S. history because of how it stretched across all platforms of life whether it was entertainment, politics, sports or just everyday life for minorities. Many important rights came out of the civil rights movement for minorities such as the Voting Rights act of 1965 and the Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965. However there is one part that is constantly overlooked and that is the impact of sports. In sports everyone has to have the opportunity to play no matter what race, color, or culture they may be. If everyone is not getting the chance to play how can sports grow and change? It can't because new ideas aren't being brought to the table nor is new talent being discovered. This is where a movement happened before the civil rights movement, in the sports world and it continued throughout the Civil Rights movement and well after. Many athletes were breaking color barriers in different sports,showing that not only could they play on the same level as white athletes, but also outperform  white athletes if given the chance. The message of the Civil Rights movement was to protest but do it peacefully and not use violence in any way to try and get your point across.

Athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Althea Gibson, Nat Clifton and  more used this philosophy before the Civil Rights movement took place . As athletes they knew that if they wanted to truly make an impact in any of the sports they played,  they had to change the mindset of people and what they thought of minorities as athletes. The athletes knew that if they used violence as a way to retaliate  the people who mistreated them, nothing would  change. Committing violent acts towards those people would only prove those stereotypes people were saying about them and would enhance hatred towards them. By using nonviolent methods to protest and letting their play do the talking, they were proving the people who hated them wrong.  They were also taking away their reason to hate them and treat them unequal.

Jackie Robinson  was the one who started this movement in the sports world before the civil rights movement. Martin Luther King Jr. was once asked to describe Jackie Robinson, he described him as, "a pilgrim that walked in the lonesome byways toward the high road of freedom. He was a sit-inner before sit-in, a freedom rider before freedom rides." Even though Robinson did break the  color barrier in sports, he did more for the game of baseball than by just being a good player. He was racially abused wherever he went and nobody treated him equally. Robinson knew that if he retaliated violently or acted in a similar way towards the who hated him, he wouldn't be able to change  the game for minority athletes, especially African Americans.

The way Robinson responded was by not responding to those people because he would only stoop to their level, he knew to make a difference he would have to be above them and not retaliate. A major part of Jackie Robinson's legacy would have not been possible without Branch Rickey taking a chance on him. Rickey was the manager who signed Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. Rickey knew that talent had no color, and that the only way the game would progress and for his team to get better, was if he allowed everyone regardless of race to play baseball. Before Jackie Robinson officially signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers,Rickey wanted to  meet with Robinson because he knew he had a couple of bad run ins with other players in the Negro League. Rickey wanted to sit down with him to  talk and  make sure that wouldn't he do that in the MLB. In that meeting Rickey said "Robinson, I'm looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back." (Robinson,The Ties That Bind Part 1,jackierobinson.hubpages.com) Rickey knew Robinson was a very talented player, but he also knew he would face a lot of adversity but that it would pay off if he didn't retaliate and feed into the hatred.

Those words made Jackie realize that this was bigger than baseball.  By him breaking the color barrier he was gonna start a movement  of change in the sports world. Robinson had a big impact not only in baseball but in the entire sports world. He looked adversity straight in the eyes and took it head on and conquered it.  "Robinson's triumph in the face of bigotry evoked a sense of pride among black people and forced the rest of America to consider anew the doctrine of white supremacy" (Richard Goldstein). That quote shows the true impact Jackie Robinson had in America he sparked change for athletes all over the sports landscapes and inspired them to challenge the beliefs of racism in sports and prove they could play with whites and even better than whites.

Althea Gibson  is widely known as the "Female Jackie Robinson." but unlike Robinson she didn't have it is as easy. Gibson dropped out of high school because she didn't like classes so instead of going to high school she joined this all black tennis community and quickly got recognition from Hubert Eaton and Robert W. Johnson who were two famous black tennis coaches. These two coaches took Althea in and not only made her a great tennis player but they got her on the right track academic wise. She even went back to high school and graduated. Althea was winning every minor tournament she was playing but couldn't go to nationals because of the rules the U.S. tennis Association had in place.  However, a fellow competitor named Alice marble knew the game had to change. She said "If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of players, then it's only fair that they meet this challenge on the courts."(Schwartz,Althea Gibson Broke Barriers,espn.com). Alice knew by the U.S. tennis Association not letting Althea play it was hurting the game and tennis didn't truly have the best athlete competing at the highest level in tennis. In 1950 the U.S. tennis association changed its laws and Gibson was allowed entry into 1950's nationals. Even though she was winning tournaments she was still denied by some country clubs and hotels a room to stay in.  When Gibson beat Mortimer in the Wimbledon Final she not only pleased herself but pleased all African Americans. Althea showed that tennis wasn't just a white sport and that there was new and better talent once everyone was allowed to play.

Muhammad Ali is one of the greatest boxers of all time but outside of his boxing he contributed a lot into making sure African Americans had equal rights after the Civil Rights movement by taking a stand against our country. In 1967 Ali was boxing world heavyweight champion and had just came off another title defense when he was drafted to the vietnam war. Muhammad Ali took a stand against the United States by refusing to go to war. Muhammad Ali  said "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong-no Vietcong ever called me nigger." He also said "why fight for a country who doesn't treat me equal" (Muhammad Ali refuses Army Induction,history.com). When he took this stance against our country it showed the world the United States true problems and the world got to see them. Muhammad Ali showed that athletes can make more of an impact that doesn't involve their abilities but involve using their voice to say and show the issues that need to be change.

All of these athletes sparked change that grew past just their years as  professionals. They knew the impact they needed to have in the 20th century in order to change the way minorities were perceived especially african Americans. They didn't use violence as a way to highlight the problems.  They highlighted the problems peacefully by letting their individual talents do the talking or by simpling saying a few words the world needed to hear. Jackie Robinson sparked a movement in the sports world before the Civil Rights movement by simply letting his play do the talking and not retaliating violently. Althea Gibson after numerous times of being denied entry into tennis's biggest events she continued to play tennis and she broke down the color barrier in tennis during the civil rights movement. Muhammad Ali stood up against our country and made the world aware of the United States's problems with racism and made it known that even after the Civil Rights movement change still needed to happen. All these athletes knew that although they were playing their sport they knew the game was bigger than them and they used that platform to start and continue a movement before, after, and during the Civil Rights movement.

 

Annotated Bibliography-Civil Sports Movement

Goldstein, R. (N.D.) Jackie Robinson.  Retrieved from the New York Times on

    January 28, 2015. Goldstein tells the story of an inspiring figure in the Civil Rights

movement Jackie Robinson the first black man to play major league baseball in

          the20th century.Goldstein writes about Robinson’s home life, and his early     

          college years at Pasadena College and the day he broke the color barrier in      

          major league baseball.

 

Muhammad Ali Refuses Army Induction. (N.D.).  Retrieved on February, 2015 from

history.com.  This article is about Muhammad Ali refusing to be inducted into the

U.S. Army, the reason for his refusal and the consequences of his refusing to be

inducted into the Army.

 

Reese, R. (1999).  The Socio-Political Context of the Integration of Sports in America.  

Journal of African American Men (4) 3. This article traces the development of the integrating of sports by looking at the socio    political context in which the development takes place.  The article provides factors that were instrumental in the full segregation of sports in America.

Robinson, J. (2011).  The Ties that Bind:  The Civil Rights movement through baseball           

          part 1.  Sports Recreation (11) 181.  Robinson discusses two events that set  

probably set the motion for the Civil Right Movement The first event was World

War II, black and white American were leaving their families to go fight a war

against Hitler. The second event was the signing of Jackie Robinson to the

Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945.      

Robinson, J. (2011).  The Ties that Bind:  The Civil Rights movement through baseball part 2.  Sports Recreation (11) 181.  Part two of the Ties that Bind part two covers the

emergence of one of the greatest boxers of all times Cassius Clay (Muhammad

Ali).  He experienced racism at a very early age, it wasn’t until he was twelve

years old that his story begins simply because someone had stolen his bike from

the store.  Robinson tells the story of how Cassius Clay/Muhammad was first

introduced  to boxing and how he went on to break color barriers in sports.

 

Schwartz, L. (N.D.). Althea Gibson Broke Barrier. Retrieved on February, 2015 from ESPN.Com.

Larry Schwartz talks about how although Jackie Robinson played in the major

leagues and broke color barriers, Althea Gibson was working just as hard to

break the color barrier in the lily-white sport of tennis.

 

Smith, T. (N.D.).  Civil Rights on the Gridiron.  Retrieved from ESPN Stories on January 29, 2015. The article provide information about how black football players were finally

integrated into the football team the Washington Redskins, the only NFL team

without a black player in 1961.  This event took place after the Washington

Redskins owner during that time George Marshall made the statement that ‘he

would start negroes, when the Harlem Globetrotters start signing whites.”

 

Question: Was there a movement in sports that was happening before the Civil Rights Movement for the benefit of African Americans and minorities?

 

Claim: Yes there was a movement happening before the Civil Rights Movement that involved many African American Athletes standing against racism by showing that they could play at the same level as white players and play even better than them. Black Athletes also did not use violence they let their play do the talking.