“The Right Sort of Girl Is a Tomboy”

Abstract

Abstract Despite their presence in Black girls’ sporting cultures, histories of tomboys often primarily focus on white subjects. However, a theoretical approach to the intellectual history of Black tomboys illuminates how the figure informed constructions of racialized girlhoods, athletics, and embodiment. Articles authored by adults, children, and youth in the Black press examined the tomboy's potential to inform and shape mediated representations of Black girls’ athleticism during the early twentieth century.