Essay On The Integration Of African American Sports

On the other hand, The evolution of sports has embraced the integration of African Americans into the sports industry. Alex Hargrave from “Sports are symbolic because they represent people coming together in support of their favorite teams, and even though there is competition on the field when the final whistle blows, they shake hands and show respect toward one another” (“A Timeline of Civil Rights”). But before this African Americans faced extreme racism with Jim Crow Laws. They were excluded from being involved in most professional sports. Until the Civil Rights Movement in the early 1960s. In 1948 desegregation of the U.S. military—led to the gradual integration of other professional sports, such as football, basketball, hockey, tennis,

Jackie endured racism from fans and players but played through it all being a role model for future African American athletes. After Jackie Robinson signed with the Dodgers farm team other African Americans followed in his footsteps. Less than a year later the Los Angeles Rams signed 2 African American players Kenny Washington and Woody Strode. And in 1950 Chuck Cooper, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, and Earl Lloyd 3 African American athletes were drafted into the NBA. increasingly more and more African American athletes were integrating into all sorts of professional sports. And in the early 60s when the Civil Rights Movement started to pick up, African American athletes joined the protests toward desegregating the United States and bringing equality to all. Some notable African American athletes that were involved in the movement were Jackie Robinson, Muhammed Ali, Bill Russel, Hank Arron, and many more. When Jackie Robinson was asked by a reporter in 1964 why more Black athletes don’t participate in the civil rights movement, Robinson answered, “many of them think they have it made. But they won’t have it made until the lowest Negro has it made” (Moore,