Mark Naison's 'Why Sports History Is American History'

(Topic sentence)Why sports history is America history, by Mark Naison, is an article that provides proof that the racial and gender equality movements also had some more inconspicuous moments of change throughout the years. This can be shown when the author writes (Quote) “In the first half of the 1900s, Irish, Italian and Jewish Americans were often looked on with suspicion. Yet, boxers John L. Sullivan, Jim Corbett, Benny Leonard and Rocky Marciano and baseball players Joe DiMaggio and Hank Greenberg all became huge stars. They offered hope that immigrant families could find success and become fully accepted as Americans.” (Explanation) This example shows us that while immigrants were often frowned upon, sports gave them an opportunity to

In the 1930s, two black athletes became genuine American sports heroes: runner Jesse Owens and boxer Joe Louis. Both won their victories against athletes from Nazi Germany, where theories about race claimed that black people and American immigrants were inferior.” (Explanation) This is an example of how people who were doubted and laughed at overcame their foes and won over them, proving them wrong. Here is a slightly different tone with a previous well-known event causing a change in a new affair with this quote (quote) “The history of women in sports follows a somewhat different path. For most of the 20th century, women were told that sports were unladylike. Women and girls were given few opportunities to develop their athletic talent. It was not until the feminist movement of the 1960s and 1970s that women began to see participation in sports as a women's rights issue. They began to insist that girls have the same opportunity to participate in sports as boys had. In 1964, the law called Title IX was passed to help women get more access to