‘Black Athletes in White Men's Games’: Race, Sport and American National Pastimes

Abstract

This essay provides an overview of the efforts made by African Americans to compete with and against their white counterparts on an equal basis in highly organised sport in the USA. These efforts have resulted in a relatively large number of African Americans participating in football, basketball, and track and very small representation in baseball, golf, tennis, stock car racing and a host of other national pastimes. A result of historical context and racism in a capitalist society, this fact has not deterred young African Americans from seeking success in sport because they view it as the only alternative to welfare, crime and life on the streets. Unfortunately, for the largest majority of impoverished young African Americans, success in sport never comes to pass and the American dream is ultimately never fully realised. Even those African Americans who managed to overcome racial barriers and achieve success in sport have done so without any opportunity of gaining some control of an institution that is extraordinarily important in the USA.