How the Black Press Helped Integrate Baseball
In the 1930s and ’40s, Black newspapers like the Pittsburgh Courier used their platform to help break the sport’s color line.
Sport in America: A Reading List
Covering the colonial era to the present, this annotated bibliography demonstrates the topical and methodological diversity of sport studies in the United States.
The Triumphalism of American Wild West Shows
From the 1880s to the 1930s, hundreds of Wild West shows encouraged white audiences to view Native American culture as a rapidly vanishing curiosity.
Masculinity, Boxing, and the “Wild Brawl” That Changed the Sport
Bennie “Kid” Paret and Emile Griffith were both ready to fight, but it was unlikely either boxer was prepared for the outcome of their final bout.
Pole Vaulting Over the Iron Curtain
When it became clear that the United States and its allies couldn’t “liberate” Eastern Europe through psychological war and covert ops, they turned to sports.
How to Fight Like a Girl
Women have been punching each other in the face (during boxing matches) since the early 1700s.
Reggie Jackson Superstar
Clutch hitter Reggie Jackson dominated baseball in the 1970s as a “Me Decade” athlete who became one of the first sports super-celebrities.
The Adventurous Life and Mysterious Death of Frank Lenz
In 1892, the master cyclist set out to tour the world on wheels. A few months later, he disappeared, never to be heard from again. What happened to Frank Lenz?
The Feminine Art of Bow Hunting
Although hunting is often styled as a sport of men, American magazines marketed bow hunting to women in an attempt to legitimize and civilize the sport.
The “Trapeze Disrobing Act”
Strongwoman Charmion used Thomas Edison’s experiments with moving pictures to encourage women to embrace strength and physical activity.