What Is The Role Of Social And Cultural Change In Sports Throughout The 1940's

Throughout the progressive era and into the 1940’s, the United States saw many changes socially and culturally, both of which can be observed through the popularity of major sports at the time. Socially, the way race and gender were viewed in sports began to change as women began to make their way into the world of sports, and African Americans were proving their worth amongst their white competitors despite Jim Crow laws and discrimination looming over their heads. Culturally, sports were reaching audiences everywhere with the use of radio to broadcast games to homes all over the country, creating a new celebrity culture amongst the greatest players who would come to be on the same level of popularity as famous movie stars such as Charlie

These changes can be reflected in college sports such as football and basketball, which were utilized by schools to promote healthy physical activity and try to tame the wild personalities of those who played them, a common goal of progressive era colleges. This can be seen in teams such as the Carlisle Indians, the football team of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, who were placed into their team by the school as a way to “civilize” their savage roots and incorporate them into American society through football. The Carlisle team would become a force to be reckoned with amongst other national teams, many reporters would often point out their “savage” roots from the west, and describe how they were trained to mirror the white man, giving them their success in the sport when playing against other white teams. Similarly, in a time when women were looked down upon for their participation in sports for being unladylike, they were able to find an outlet for their need of physical exertion in bicycling. Bicycling provided them with not only a sport, but a mode of transportation that would spark a ‘bicycling craze’ amongst women and gave them a new sense of “freedom and self-reliance,” as well-known suffragist Susan B. Anthony once said about the

Representing the upper classes of society was Gene Tunney, a man of Victorian values with humble roots in a working-class Irish American family who was adored by the middle and upper classes. William Dempsey represented the opposite values, a poor boy from the western United States who left home in his teens to work as a miner, growing up around violence and alcohol. Dempsey would find huge success in boxing; However, he was not a likeable champion as middle-class journals did not look upon him favorably and many viewers seeing him as a villain in Tunney’s story. To further add to his negative image, word of him avoiding service during the war and divorcing of his first wife were spread by journals, ultimately ruining his public reputation, which would be destroyed after his defeat by Tunney in the famous fight. The Tunney-Dempsey fight would show how pivotal the media would be to the buildup of sporting events, and the reputations of those who participated in