Arturo Kim
ENG 2150
Professor Allison
31 March 2015
Sports have always been a crucial part of American society in a social aspect. Segregation has played a huge factor in professional sports throughout history. African Americans were often discriminated in American society. They were belittled by society because of their social standings and lack of importance within the community. As years passed by, African Americans were progressively getting accepted and recognized by society, primarily in sports. As their social standings started to develop, we can see that they gained more confidence and began to live up to their potential, ignoring the prejudice of racism. The article, “Every Picture Tells a Story: Racial Representation on Sports Illustrated Covers,” states that there was discrimination of minorities within professional sports. They support this statement by providing analysis and findings where sports initiated the development of society acknowledging and eventually embracing African Americans over time. Although this may have initiated the era of society accepting African Americans more, they weren’t recognized just for their athleticism. More opportunities were offered to society, disregarding class, race, and sex, and these minorities took advantage of this moment to strive for greatness.
It was extremely rare to witness African Americans participating in sports throughout the mid-1900s. Sports have historically been segregated and were usually exclusive and reserved for white people only. They have restricted minority participants and bolstered the dominance of superiority within white people in sports leagues. This was displayed in the Major League
Baseball organization around 1953, where the Major League Baseball operated with a strategy known as “the fifty percent color line”. This precedent restricted teams from having no more than four black players out of nine players out in the field. In the passage the author quotes, “Roger Kahn wrote that this de facto color line was to ensure the continued majority presence, and dominance, of whites in ‘America’s pastime’: to have ‘five blacks playing with four whites supposedly threatened the old order’”, which demonstrated how biased and racist society was towards minorities. Although different ethnicities rather than white people excelled in sports exceptionally well, they were undermined by others to maintain the dominance and superiority of white people.
As time elapsed, sports became one of the first social institutions to accept and embrace minorities in society. This gave white Americans exposure to minorities. It allowed them to recognize and admire these individuals for their achievements. There were a few of these so called minorities who have grown to become great players, such as Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali, who have surpassed any prejudice that was held against them during their time. Jackie Robinson was the first African American to become a Major League Baseball player and break the color barrier that segregated this sport for more than 50 years. Ever since the introduction of Jackie Robinson into the league, it led to African Americans becoming more involved in competitive sports.
There was an enormous gap throughout history in the representation of black people compared to white people in media. Media is a huge factor in society, where it announces and introduces significant news to the public. Any sort of media displayed in magazines or articles are considered to be essential to society, or they wouldn’t be presented. The Sports Illustrated magazine is the oldest and most prominent sporting news magazine in the country . Eric Primm, Dubois Summer, and Regoli Robert collected data from a content analysis of the covers of fifty one years of the Sports Illustrated Magazine from the Sports Illustrated 50 Years: The Anniversary Book (1954-2004). This analysis of the data provides a cross tabulation of “Group Race” and “Time Period” in comparison to white and black people featured on the Sports Illustrated covers individually and in group photographs. According to the data, before 1975, blacks were being underrepresented in these covers, appearing only 24.1% of the times (148). Whereas white people were presented 75.9% of the times (366). Not only did this demonstrate the scarcity of African Americans in sports , but also how America wanted to see sports as predominantly white. White people were represented approximately 3-4 times more than black people alone and in groups. However, from 1975 to 2004 the percentage and amount of black people being presented in covers surpassed that of white people with black people displayed 53.9% of the times, whereas white people only appearing 46.1% of the times. This turning point in history establishes that African Americans are the dominant race when it comes to sports in modern days .
Regardless of African Americans becoming more prominent in society because of their athletic abilities and achievements, racism still exists in sports. Blacks have been belittled in specific positions that are considered to require more intelligence. There are multiple negative social stereotypes against black people being violent, having lower intelligence levels, and association with crimes. Whereas white people were perceived positively and more superior when compared to black people. Therefore white people have dominated positions requiring greater intelligence quotient and decision making such as quarterbacks, pitchers, and point guards. In the other hand, black people are more prevalent in positions primarily focusing
on athleticism such as running back in football, forward positions in basketball, and outfield positions in baseball; black people were more dominant in physical skills, such as greater strength, speed, and agility than white people. An example of the discrimination within different positions is quoted in the article, “Lapchick noted that in the 2002 NFL season, eighty-two percent of running backs, eighty-eight percent of wide receivers, ninety-eight percent of cornerbacks, and eighty-eight percent of safeties were black, whereas eighty-three percent of the offensive centers were white.” This disparity in positions within sports generated the racial stereotype that white people are dominant intellectually, whereas black people are more powerful in the athletic aspect. This prejudice resulted from the ignorant racist attitudes created by society.
From an analytical stand point, sports initiated the era of society becoming more accepting towards minorities in modern day society. Through their success and achievements throughout history, they have acquired the respect and admiration that one longed to desire. Without their ambition to strive disregarding society’s racism and prejudice, their social standing wouldn’t be as high as it is today.
Primm, Eric, Summer Dubois, and Robert Regoli. “Every Picture Tells a Story: Racial Representation on Sports Illustrated Covers.” The Journal of American Culture 30.2 (2007): 222-31. Online Library. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
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