General Conclusion-Where I am now

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Overall, through this research process, I was able to gather a lot of useful knowledge needed for this project, and also knowledge I can use down the road in life as well. As I reflect on this process, I think about my journey of where I started and where I am now. When I first started this project, I was talking about the great athlete Jesse Owens and how he started the trend of breaking racial color barriers, so I started to research what race and sports looked like in the broad spectrum of things. By this, I originally just started looking at some articles to get a basis on racial barriers in sports and where I was heading. Along with this, I looked at YouTube videos to get others opinions on this topic, not solely just my opinion and view on it to deepen my understanding even further by listening to others. , I looked at different perspective of people to fill in the missing puzzle pieces and to once again assist in gaining more knowledge on this topic, but also to have a more current and present day view.
 While looking at these, this led to other topics such as the discrimination and unfair treatment of these athletes in sports too. As I was researching these topics, a common issue that kept coming up was this topic of "Black athletic superiority". I wanted to learn more about this misconception, so I started to dig deeper in learning about this and how it was effective to African American athletes. Then, I started to narrow it down and began my focused knowledge to just looking at the historical African American athletes that took part in breaking color barriers over the years versus every single African American athlete as a whole, which would take way too much time. Of these, I started to pinpoint a few that I thought had made the most impact so I picked Jackie Robinson. However, as interesting as he was, I still wasn't getting the answers that I needed for my topic. So, I decided to get other people's views on this topic, in which I picked a Sports Psychologist and coaches of professional sports. By doing this, I was able to learn in depth more about my topic because I saw the trends that they had studied which were about the changes in racial barriers over the years, which was what I was looking for the entire time. As I started to become more engaged in this topic, the psychologists view made me realize that I need to look at not only racial barriers, but also the gender barriers that came up in sports as well. I came up with this thought because I had picked two athletes from the list I was studying, as I mentioned earlier, and without even realizing it at first, I had picked two different genders, which I felt that this was  a good launching pad into my research. I say this because I now was looking at the racial and gender specific barriers that came up in sports over the years and how they had changed over time. This also gave me an inside look to how males and females took on different roles in sports and each faced different trials, regardless of their skin color. So, I looked more in depth at this topic and came a color equality law called Title IX. I then spent a lot of time and research on this topic because this was all about my topic and I felt that it was leading me closer and closer to my focused idea that I wanted. As I was getting answers to these two topics of gender and race in sports, I knew that I still wasn't satisfied at arriving at my final focus of interest. So, as I sat there with all of the research that I had already done, I asked the question, "What if I were to combine both of the topics and see what kind of answers I can get?". So, I started to research on prosperous African American female athletes over the years. When doing this, the one that kept popping up over and over again wasSerena and Venus Williams Serena was a famous professional tennis player that was one the first black athlete to cross the color line of international tennis.  She has become one of the first people of color to win a Grand Slam title and many other major titles. As I was researching, this is what really piqued my interest since I am a tennis player myself. As I looked more and more at Venus and Serena, their story is what got me thinking. I had read that they had come from a really poor neighborhood called Compton. TA-DA. From reading this, I knew that I wanted to focus my topic on how tennis is regarded as a "rich, white person" sport and how this misconception came to be and if there can be a way to break it. From this, I decided to focus my topic on the racial, gender, and socioeconomic factors that play a part in sports and then narrow it down to just tennis alone and get answers from that.

You ask, "Where am I now?", while I ask myself this same question. As this topic is very intriguing to me, it has prompted me to want to keep taking steps of research on it because I want to see if I can somehow be the person to change this misconception. Also, besides how I can change things, I wonder who else is at the table that can help to end these stereotypes as well. As I was thinking about this, I thought about how this can affect so many others too. This can include: African American athletes themselves for generations to come.

The questions I would ask further if I still did even more research on this would be: "Can there be a way to stop this misconception from happening?" and if so, "How exactly can we do so?".


All in all, I feel that this project opened my eyes and taught me more than I never knew before on barriers in sports and how they can be eliminated. "Will we ever get to a place where any one regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religion can go show their passion for a sport without a judgment being cast upon them?".
 As I did research more about this topic, I feel like I successfully reached my goals of helping to further my knowledge on racial barriers in sports, answer my questions, and to be able to show people I might meet down the road the impact of racial barriers in sports truly do have.

Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you enjoyed it!

[1] Picture. http://www.bigbeat.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/black-and-white-handshake-c-e1353325910300.jpg

The race, gender, and socioeconomic background of tennis as a "rich, white person's sport"

As I develop my focused knowledge more and more, I decide that the best way to do this is to break it down into race, gender, and socioeconomic stereotypes differently; and then connect them as a whole in the end to gather my final thoughts on this topic.
Let’s address the rumor that tennis is a “rich, white man sport”.
I'm not sure if this is historical or the fact that there still are some country clubs out there that hold on to dated traditions, such as wearing all-white attire. But this isn’t true for all tennis players I can tell you that.

As far as the race issue in tennis goes, I thought that it would be easiest to look up more percentages first to get a rough idea of what I'm dealing with. I looked at percentages of white professional tennis players on the circuit today and also from years past.
With the ATA (American Tennis Association) being the oldest standing African American sports organization in the United States, it's important to see how tennis is a sport that stays true to the character of professional black athletes. Some of their rules regarding race include:
 • To bring black tennis enthusiasts and players into close and friendly relations,
• To hold an annual national championship tournament,
• To appoint referees and officials for each event with no discrimination, and
• To promote the standard of the game among black players.

From these rules being set in place in the beginning, it is easy to see how tennis has come to be one of the most friendly and welcoming sports to African American athletes. Those such as Gibson, Ashe, and the Williams sisters also set the stage to knock down any racial barriers that did exist after this association was put into place. Yet, it is easy to notice that it is still predominantly white players on the circuit. The statistics[1] show that only 4% of the Top 100 tennis players in the world are not white. When comparing this to other sports, it is easy to see that it is not yet diversified that much espciellay compared to basketball and football. You also see that as time goes on, many foreign players start to pick up on the sport as well, and many countries show up on the pro circuit wanting to show their talents regardless of what their skin color is as time goes on. As noted earlier, tennis is associated with snobby upper class people, but the fact that it's played by folks of several different levels of income and races deletes that.
When talking about gender as far as tennis goes, a slightly different approach is taken. When tennis was just starting on the professional circuit, it was heavily dominated by males at the time. For instance, when the ATA held their first championship tournament, there were was women's singles, but not women;'s doubles offrered like there was for the men. The notion that tennis is a “white” sport has long passed. This change goes back over 60 years, to when Althea Gibson became the first black athlete, male or female, to play an international tennis match. In six years, Gibson had become the first person of color to win a major tournament (the French Open) and added two Wimbledon and two U.S. titles by 1958. The onyl issue that comes into play regarding race is that the major tournament Wimbledon, where the players aer required to wear all white, not any other color. Regardless of this one small rule, it can be said that tennis is starting to be one of the sports that is even with the amount of African American and white American pro athletes, which is good to see.

The socioeconomic side of this sport takes a completely different turn although.  The environment plays a huge factor into how tennis is seen as a "snobby" sport or not. There is a possibility for someone of lower class to be in the professional circuit, but the odds are a lot smaller because they would be relying on their own skill and determination, deprived of the luxuries in their environment that the wealthier can have right at their fingertips.

Today, though, it still has that reputation. I think tennis appeals to a lot of people in my opinion, and a lot try to play it. The sport is actually much more difficult than it looks and it generally isn't associated much with athletes so much as it is with intellects because, let's be honest, you have to be smart in order to play the sport well. It is a very mental game that requires lots of tactical skills. It's a technical sport which means that because the motions aren't really natural for the body, it takes a lot of skill and practice to do well.
As for the "snobby" part, I don't see the reasoning behind to as to have access to public court for free is a bad thing. I learned this concept tennis through my high school team (and we also practiced on the city courts) and met a lot of different kinds of players from all kinds of backgrounds. It is a more expensive sport to play, but it doesn't have to be. Court access can be free and balls aren't that expensive. Any kind of sports clothes will do and racquets can be as cheap as $30 or less.  Of course, as you get better and play more important matches, the expenses do come. Also, it is a fact that those who are rich do take up tennis as a hobby for fun just because it is a fun, leisure thing to do, but doesn't mean they are necessarily "snobby". Also, this misconception is typically still an issue in the London area, where it originated, but it is a different story here in the United States.
Of course, I'm not going to deny that tennis does become an expensive sport if you want to go pro or play at a high level. However, to say that only rich people can enjoy tennis is ridiculous.  As time goes on, my general consensus to this question is even though tennis has always been considered a high class sport, more kids nowadays are starting to pick up racquets. Tennis is for anyone, everywhere. No matter who you are or where you come from, tennis welcomes you with open arms always! A sport is just a sport and you should be able to play it regardless of your circumstances. So generally I would say that tennis as a sport for the rich, white person is a huge misconception.
After much research, I would not call tennis a "rich" people sport but rather a high maintenance sport. 
This part is based generally off of my own personal opinion, but some of the info was taken from the given website at the bottom of this post. The reason that I used this as a credible source was because stats are given on every player in the pro circuit quite in depth so I know that I can trust it. In addition, this source was useful to me because it had recommendations and other links if I was looking to get other info, which is an important thing to give a researcher like myself. The purpose for this website I determined was to solely give you the current up to date stats on tennis players in the pro circuit. This unique part with this is that you can choose females or males to look at, and then you can also look at country to look at the race area as well. This was effective for my project because I wanted to know the stats of non-white players in the pro circuit to base my research off of and this website helped achieve that.


[1] http://www.tennis.com/stats/ATP/

Can only the wealthy become professional?

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Originating from English roots, tennis comes from higher-class roots originating in country clubs, but tennis doesn't have to be played by only those from the middle-upper or upper levels of society. However, what makes tennis so rich is its tradition, history, it's class; the game itself and it's etiquette. The point and key is to have class and etiquette when playing and to be with class as a person, no matter what socio-economic level you may come from.

As an individual sport that needs expensive courts and gear, tennis is often considered a rich-man's sport, and this is also cited as the reason for its lack of growth in places like Asia and Africa. This brings up the question of, do the professionals only become pros because they have the money to afford the training, memberships, tournaments, etc.? For the players on the pro circuit, research shows that they do need to be of higher class and be more wealthy because they need to have the funds to pay for the training, tournaments, agents, and travel expenses required to do so. Based on the stats I found:

1. The lead coach, 5 2/HR sessions a week  $75-$150/HR,
2. Additional specialty coach/with unique shot making skill, three 2/HR sessions $75-$100/HR,
3. Hitting coach, three 2/HR sessions $35/HR,
4. Trainer, three 2/HR sessions $60-$100/HR,
5. Nutritionist once a week for meal plans and evaluation, 2HRS/$60-$100/HR,

Yes, you will need a good chunk of change to train to become a pro player. Although, there are always success stories of those who rise up from having nothing, but in reality, this would be next to impossible to achieve without digging into your wallet a bit.
On the other end, this doesn't mean that because you are wealthy and play tennis, that you are automatically to appear on the pro cicuit. You have to work ust as hard as every other professional, no matter what race, gender, socioeconic status, etc.  With saying this, I realize that I want to spend my research now on the race, gender, and socioeconomic background of tennis as a "rich, white person's sport" because that will tie in all of my research as a whole.
I chose the website that I did because it looks very credible. This is because it gave a lot of info about this topic, so I know that the author's purpose was to inform the audience correctly about it and that was conveyed well by the tone. Also, this is credible because the author gives additional info such as publishing info and dates. Most importantly, there are other articles given on where I can go if I want to do more research. This is useful for me because I was able to answer my question about, "Can only the wealthy become professional?", but it also helped to broaden my knowledge of ideas I didn't think about before.

Website can be found at: http://www.tennisconsult.com/produce-professional-tennis-players/

Is tennis a rich, white person's sport?

The question to ask about this misconception that has been around for decades is indeed, "Is tennis a rich, white person sport?". Yes it does cost quite a lot of money to play the sport of tennis, but a tennis racket can range from $20 to $400, tennis shoes tend to be quite expensive starting around $40-$200, and the latest clothing fashion in tennis is also quite pricey as well. When people say that upper class people play this sport it is because of the fancy country clubs that charge a lot of money. Also it does cost a lot of money to play in the winter, as indoor tennis courts can cost anywhere from $40 to $80 or more to play on a court for just an hour; take it from the girl whose spent hundreds just for a few hours of court time in the Midwest because weather doesn't allow for us players to practice elsewhere. This goes to show that no matter what part of the country you are in, you are paying a lot of money. In the northern region, you are paying for club memberships and court times and in the southern region (where tennis is more prominent), you are surrounded by higher-level players, so you pay just as much money for the camps and clinics and tournaments there.
But, this does not mean that the middle class or lower class can't play tennis too. There are many tennis players that are not wealthy. Just because someone can't afford the expensive clothing, shoes, or rackets does not mean that they can't play tennis.
 The image of tennis as a sport for rich people probably got going for a couple of reasons. First, most country clubs have tennis courts, and the members there may have a lot of money and are usually well off families. Also, it is portrayed that the women who are playing all day don't have to work because the husbands make enough money, and so they can afford to buy fancy outfits and expensive equipment. So certainly tennis is popular among the wealthier, but they still make up a minority of those playing the game today. Where I live there is a huge public tennis program for kids and adults and it costs almost nothing to participate.
 Going along with this, in my personal opinion, anyone who may not be financially well off but wants to play tennis certainly can. I want you all to know that anyone can play tennis, train hard, improve, and develop their game if they truly want to. I found that determined players can improve to the point where they can be sponsored by companies and receive free equipment for tennis and these players are not always pro, but rather can be top junior players in the circuit as well. Just like the William sisters story, there is a great example which tells you all about their life from rags to riches as African American athletes and they still had success.

Coming from  a tennis player perspective myself, and a lower class individual, I realized quick how intense it is to live in a day where these stereotypes are there, we just have to stand up and say what's right and what's wrong about them.
Anyone can play and I strongly suggest you do as "tennis is a life long sport".
It was meant to be played by royalty. Thats why King Henry VIII and all of them did. Part of the reason why I love wimbledon, brings back the royalty factor in tennis along with the class and grace.


link to follow up with research can be found at: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090430173751AAiP5nT

Venus and Serena Williams breaking color barriers

Straight outta Compton:


Yes, that's right, two of the most well known and highly prosperous tennis players in the world are from the poor slums of California. How do they do this you ask?

The fact that the family had relocated to Compton was no accident. With its high rate of gang activity, Richard Williams, their father, wanted to expose his daughters to the ugly possibilities of life being, "if they did not work hard and get an education." In this setting, on courts that were filled with potholes and sometimes missing nets, Serena and Venus practiced the game of tennis and the requirements for persevering in a tough climate. They didn't know at the time that they would grow up to be some of the great African American role models and athletes of all time. Not only did they achieve great feats of showing the world that it doesn't matter if you are a female or a African American, if you want something; you go get it.
 This story unfolded more in 2009 when Serena and Venus purchased shares of the Miami Dolphins to become the first African-American women to own part of an NFL team. Looking at this time, I think that it is important to note how much of an impact and opportunity she is showing as an African American athlete because a women like Althea Gibson might not have ever been able to achieve the same feats because of the time period she lived in. This goes to show how racial barriers were being broke down more and more in sports as years passed and these two were the ones to help take part in doing so.
One of the biggest instances that I found to prove my point on this topic was to look at an episode of unusual behavior that Serena took part in back in 2009. Williams downplayed what happened about how she'd threatened the woman lines person during the match. But the incident did not go over well with the tennis viewing public, nor the U.S. Tennis Association, which fined her $10,000 on the spot. Two months later, she was placed on two-year probation and ordered to pay another $82,500 to the Grand Slam committee for the episode, the largest punishment ever against a tennis player. This got me thinking about questions such as, would a white, professional tennis player had to of dealt with the same consequences or would they have let her easier? This brings me to wonder also, "Is this how tennis came to be said as a rich, white person's sport?". This led to my next portion of research which deals with white athletes in the professional world of tennis and how they are treated, equally or different. I think this question is very important to ask because it sheds light on the white athletes side of things as well. This is important to look at because in order to get a true answer to these questions, we need to know from both sides. Also, I think these questions are good to focus my research on because a lot of audiences can be reached with this. Not only am I talking about African American professional athletes, but also white athletes as a whole. Also , these questions can be addressed to both genders as well, so I now have the gender topic covered as well. I think this is important to ask because I feel this is a common misconception that has always lingered for an answer, so now I am going to go find one.
Their power and athletic ability overwhelmed opponents, and their sense of style and presence made them celebrities on and off the court.With their famous style and play, Venus and Serena changed the look of their sport as well the look of other professional sports for African America athletes.

When doing this research, I thought if this website was trustworthy enough to use. After looking at it more in depth, I realized that it is. This is because there are other famous athletes and celebrities found on this website as well, so I know that they want to let researchers really know about these people correctly. The biggest part that I realized that made me trust this website was at the bottom of this page, all of the citation info needed was given. This showed a lot about the author because I knew then he wanted to audience of this website to know that he wasn't just making this stuff up. This was useful for the purpose of my project as well because I was able to use the info I needed bout Serena and knew that it was valuable enough to put in this blog.


Additional info can be found at:http://www.biography.com/people/serena-williams-9532901#personal-life

The impact of barriers in the sport of tennis

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As I was researching this topic more and more, I thought about just typing in race barriers in sports and see what would pop up. I wanted to know more about how African Americans females got their break in the sports world as well. When I first began researching, I noticed that it was all male athletes that I was talking about, and I want to get a different take on the topic. Of all the photos, this one kept to seem showing up. It's a unique photo of a white tennis player giving congratulatory kisses to African American player, Althea Gibson.
On this topic, I was still looking to get another perspective on how Althea Gibson really changed racial barriers in sports. So, I decided to look at books for sources to see what I could find. In the book titled Glory Bound, Black Athletes in a White America, [1] there was an excerpt included about her. This said, "Althea was a great tennis star who broke several racial barriers in the sport, but did not see herself as a champion of civil rights". By reading this I started to think more in depth about how all the African American athletes over time probably thought to themselves how it was no big deal about achieving a great feat in their sport, they were just playing; but to the rest of the world, it was a foreign concept to them. Also from this reading, I was able to grasp how the civil rights movement changed the face of American athletics and society forever and how I wanted to look at other African American female pro athletes and how they made an impact. Who fits this better than the Williams sisters; Venus and Serena?
This photo was a significant part of my research because it led me to what I believe is my grand conclusion, yet is still somewhat of a spinoff from my original idea. It really got me thinking, being a tennis player myself, how there are stereotypes revolved around just this sport alone, which is huge to think about when thinking about racial barriers in all of the sports. As I sit here and think, "what stereotypes could be relate to tennis though?", one keeps popping up in my head. It is one that I have heard for awhile now that I, myself have been irritated by, which is that tennis is referred to as a "rich, white person sport". With both of these ideas spinning in my head, I want to start off by just getting some basic knowledge about Venus and Serena as players and also how they broke racial barriers during their time and go from there to answer my next question on tennis being a "rich, white person" sport.

Nonetheless, it is important to notice this type of social interaction during this time period. What are your thoughts about this? When I look at this, a lot of thoughts and feelings come rushing through my mind. I think about the race and gender issues both being quite prevalent here because of the type of photo it is, still in black and white coloring which shows that it was before the time that color photography was really even a thing.

[1] Wiagins, David K. Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White America. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1997.

[2] http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/02/sport/tennis/us-open-althea-gibson-tennis/

Perception in the media for professional womens sports

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Girls also see a double standard in covering women's professional sports. When male athletes receive media attention, such coverage is primarily focused on their skilled performance and athletiscism, and how tough they can look to the public. When female athletes receive media attention, the media is much more likely to focus on their physical attractiveness or non-sport-related activities. Anna Kournikova, who has yet to win a professional tennis tournament, was one of only six women ranked among the most important people in sports because they paid more attention to her looks than athletic performance. This double standard devalues the athletic achievements of female athletes compared to their male counterparts. because media focuses just on the attractiveness element. With the topic of Anna being a white athlete, I decided to break down to another category based just off of my opinion, and asked,  "How are African American athletes perceived in media?". Based on doing this, I can combine both race and gender barriers in sports and tackle them both. While on the topic of tennis, and African American athletes who are also female, the fist athletes that popped in my head were Venus and Serena Williams. As I knew that I am developing my focused knowledge, I still have to break it down to a specific sport over all of the sports in order to get a clear answer to my questions, so I decided to stick with tennis. Now that I know that m focused knowledge is going to be on the racial and gender broken down through Venus and Serena's story, I can move forward in my research process.

[1]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUx7Y_y1EAYFsgql0izzcJdBRGO-zRoxKtKa4C5bnjTsg8v03GfZXYQnQV4zkJq0L7Mi2RQdDH_ISLAk77j1qoXBQu_uhrY_socViqqjcdvhh2OdyVGgIziB3d9OrwQp6PqzyKxrgfhCg/s1600/picstitch.jpg

Gender in Sports--Title IX

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As I start to research about gender barriers in sports, I kept coming across something called Title IX, so I decided to research on it. It is a law that was put into place to allow gender equality in sports in a numerous amount of different aspects. It basically states that, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance". Through this law, rules such as males and females having an equal amount of sports teams at a school, as well as offering equal salary pay came into effect, scholarship pay, and not discriminating against women that are pregnant. When looking at this, I began to think how this was a monumental step for gender issues being solved in sports. By having a law put in place, these gender issues will start to be taken care of. However, I still realized that the stereotypes will continue because you can't put a law on Freedom of Speech and what people can still say about different races. But, you are protected under Title IX even if you do not experience sex discrimination directly from a person.
Maybe just maybe, this would be a step towards eliminating stereotypes like; "you run like a girl", and such. This recently was aired on a PSA during the Superbowl regarding how girls have the same privileges to play sports just as equally as boys. From remembering this commercial while writing this, I start to wonder how the way media portrays the different genders in sports and how that can play an affect on their performance as well because they will feel all sorts of different pressures.
As society knows, boys grow up typically surrounded by the sports element, being immersed in playing multiple sports to find their strengths, and are taught to be aggressive. On the other hand, girls are shown how to be gentle and caring, not aggressive like boys are in sports. From this, I decided that my research now is going to focus on how the different genders are portrayed in the media of professional sports and focus from there.
The source that I pulled these facts form was The National Center of Education Statistics. I knew that this was credible to use because it is a government (.gov) based organization. In addition, I was able to trust it because it had source listed after each fact if you wanted to get additional info. Also, it had the related figures and sources listed at the bottom that gave me the sources on where to find the linked info if I needed to. The text's purpose was to provide me with some quick and important facts on Title IX and what it entailed and it did just that which in turn helped achieved my purpose for this portion of my project as well. As I was thinking about using this source, I knew that it was useful to have because all of the info was backed up and it was coming from all reliable sources.

The link to this source can be found here: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=93. 
[1] http://www.adweek.com/files/imagecache/node-blog/blogs/title-ix-mosaic.jpg

A sport psychologists view

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While doing research, I started to think of getting another view on this topic. With being a kiniesiology (sport science) major, I thought that it couldn't be more fitting than to choose a sport psychologist to get their view and opinion on this topic. I knew that I needed to go further than picking one athlete and basing my entire project off of him. One of the best sources that I came across was this website that addressed issues such as: How do people explain the relationship between race, gender and performance in sports?,  Do stereotypes impact the perception of athletic performance?, and Do stereotypes impact athletic performance?.
This article really opened my eyes on how racial stereotypes really go beyond just what we see in athletes from the outside world, which is what pushed me more to do research on this topic.
As I was doing my reading on this website, an interesting fact that I came across was that Black athletes were rated higher in natural athletic ability and work ethic than sports intelligence or emotionally.  This pattern did depend on the race or gender of the perceive yet everyone, including Black perceivers, rated Black athletes this way. On the other hand, White athletes were rated higher in sports intelligence and work ethic than natural ability and emotion. This was a huge part to know about because it really helped to deepen my knowledge of the psychology behind why racial barriers can be an issue and the emotional and work ethic ties to it as well.
Another unique example that I found of this being put into place was from a broadcast of an NBA men's basketball game. Post-game ratings of the target showed that when participants thought that the target player was Black, he was rated high in athletic ability and to be a better basketball player, but he was also rated low in intelligent and hustle.  However, when listeners of the broadcast thought the athlete was White, the player was rated as highly intelligent and as showing high effort, but as having low natural ability and possessing less skill in basketball.  This is significant evidence of perceptions when we consider that all participants listened to the same  performance. The data suggest that people let their beliefs about race guide their judgments of the target athlete's characteristics. When you truly think about it, it's crazy how racial stereotypes like this can happen just by listening to a sporting event and not even attending it. Additionally, an  important point made by this research is that the negative impact of stereotypes is not limited to minority group members; anyone who belongs to a group for which negative stereotypes exist can suffer the effects of the negative stereotype in a performance situation. This is important to note in my research process as well because it shows that as I continue to come across examples of racial barriers in sports, it happens in many different situations, not just in certain places.
Another interesting part about this was that it addressed that issue of gender differences as well. A particular study about this was that female athletes were rated lower in natural ability than male athletes regardless of their race based on sports psychologists. Surprisingly, women rated female athletes the same way that men did. This suggests that people generally believe that women are less athletic than men. When reading this, it got my wheels spinning on wondering not only about racial barriers in sports, but also gender issues that arise as well. So, as I was researching this, I started to wonder how African American females versus males were treated in professional sports as well. From this, I determined that is where I wanted my research to head; gender equality in sports as well and how influential African Americans were back in the day and also present day.

When researching this source, I determined that it was credible because after each test done to find answers to these questions, there were names and dates of the researchers given to show where they got it from. Also, it came from the Department of Psychology of University of Arizona, which is a highly accredited university, so I knew that I can trust the research and results that were given for my project as well. From the author's tone, you could tell that they were there to inform you of this info and wanted you to truly know. Also, I knew that the author genuinely wanted to inform the audience because right at the beginning of the article, he put his email to contact if anyone had any questions about his article. This was useful for my topic as well because I was able to come up with the next segment that I want to focus on, gender equality in sports.



Website where research was found: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~jeffs/sportlab.html
[1] http://ickbgirls.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/sports_psychology.jpg

Number 42- Jackie Robinson Day

[1]

Jackie Robinson Day and how it came to be:

As I continue my research, I simply want to know about color barrier issues in sports, but along with researching that comes many of the athletes that helped to change these ideas. One of the most famous that I kept running across in my research was Jackie Robinson. As I sit here trying to gather info on this topic, this article helped further me in my research process in many ways. By reading it, I learned about how Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball and how it was a particularly daunting task for him. This being said because baseball was “America’s pastime” and was one of the country’s most loved sports, and part of that was the perceived “pureness” of the game. That’s what makes Robinson so important: He took on an incredible challenge in perhaps the toughest setting to do so, and he not only succeeded, but he excelled. There is no one really like Jackie Robison for America’s other favorite sports, for a number of reasons. But it still took great courage and strength to be the first black player in the NBA, NFL, NHL, the PGA and even NASCAR. It's important to reflect on athletes like Robinson because it goes to show how they not only had to deal with the pressure of being a professional athlete that performed in front of millions, but they also had to deal with the racial rules, and also comments/slurs that were being thrown their way as well. A key statistic to look at with this is that from 1945 (when Jackie Robinson first came into play) to 1995, the percentage of African Americans that played in the Major Leagues jumped from 2% to 19%. [2] It's almost as if  Jackie Robinson was thrown a curve ball and he hit an out of the park homerun with it for himself and all the future African American baseball players.

Wow, crazy to see how far African American athletes have come in just a short span of time! They are now having holidays named after them because of the impact they made in their sport even with racial stereotypes still in effect.
This leads me to ask questions like how come there aren't holidays named after white athletes that made a historical impact in their sport during this time period as well though? It also led me to questions like, "Are African Americans more superior than other athletes because they have holidays named after them?". Yet, even while asking these questions, I am noticing that I am veering off the path of wanting to look at racial barriers in professional sports and am looking at the famous athletes that broke these barriers more so. While this is great, I feel that I want to research more in depth about the topic at large and get away from looking at the individual athletes right now and also maybe research more on how they broke these barriers more because I am still not satisfied with where I want to be yet, so I think it's time to bring another perspective to the table, this time I think a sports psychologists is the view that I need the most. Thus far, my answer to the question on racial barriers still being an issue in professional sports was answered by this article. It said from the evidence from research on similar studies is mixed, with some studies finding bias against blacks and others not. A bias, if it exists, may be diminishing and possibly disappearing, according to a study on fan voting for baseball all-star teams. This guided me in having a clearer answer to racial barriers in the present day, even though I still want to find additional research to back this up.

When reading this article, I also did some critical thinking on how credible it is. I decided that it was based on a few different things. I noticed how there were statistics given, along with the references and sources having an area they were cited in.

[1] Picture source. http://www.aim.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/jackie-robinson.jpg
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_sports


The link to follow up regarding this topic can be found at: http://www.sportsgrid.com/uncategorized/happy-jackie-robinson-day-lets-remember-the-6-closest-equivalents-to-jackie-in-other-sports/

15 athletes that broke racial barriers in sports

As I continue my research on this topic, I thought that it was necessary to find other athletes besides Jesse Owens who have also broke the "barrier" so to say in professional sports. This was a good direction for me to start because I was going off of my knowledge of Jesse Owens only and that of coaches, and I needed to get a background of what other African American athletes have gone through as well. This includes their struggles, their achievements, and historical events along the way that helped to define who they were as a professional athlete. I want to know these things so that I can more easily start to grasp this concept more broader than just off of one athlete that I know a lot about that only competed in Track and Field, so I needed to know more about athletes in other sports.

When I found this article today about athletes in sports who have broken the color barriers over the years, I knew I needed to share it. Of these, one includes the famous Jesse Owens breaking Olympic records which I mentioned before so I could easily relate. Others included: Tiger Woods, Jack, Johnson, Ernie Davis, and more. Of these, one that I found was the most important was Jackie Robinson. He was the first African American athlete to play in the major leagues, later on being inducted into the Hall of Fame. Another important factor that I came across while reading about him was that he helped in diminishing racial segregation by breaking the regulation of blacks having to play in the Negro leagues for baseball any time before. I found it interesting that these breakthroughs were all over a span of years, which goes to show how this topic of racial differences is an ongoing process for African American athletes. From all of these,  I decided to research just on one athlete instead of many. I decide that I will pick Jackie Robinson and focus on his history more and his background as I move further ahead.
As I was searching about these athletes on this site, I knew that it was safe and credible to use because it was coming from the Big 10 University Pressbox. Along with this, I looked at other tabs on the website and each had a source cited to it, as well as it saying that it was coming from Monumental Sports Entertainment, which is a larger network that I can trust. For a final justification for this website, I decided to research the author and found that he is a professional journalist for this website and it the same region as Monumental Sports Entertainment is located. I also noticed that the author's tone in this was very formal and got his point across that he was making about these historical athletes which also makes this source useful to have for my research and helps push me in my opinion about black athletes as well. This affects its usefulness as a source because I know the stories behind each of these athletes and that I can trust the knowledge given about them.


Of these athletes, it was hard to pick a favorite because all of their stories were touching.
From all of these athletes, which one is your favorite story and why?

Comment your answer below please!
Find the link following: https://www.pressboxonline.com/story/10231/the-15-racial-barriers-broken-in-sports

A coaches perspective

[1]

As I'm reading further on in Taboo, an interesting spin that it takes is that even though African Americans are dominating the sports as time goes on, the corporate leaders and coaches are all mainly in white hands still. This pushed me to want to research about a coaches perception on racial barriers in sports, so that is where my research headed to next.
I started by looking at the statistics of white coaching staff in the sports industry, and narrowed it down to just looking at the National Football League. The numbers that I found were only 3-9% of the total coaches in the NFL since 2013. With research done, I realized that the only reason that this percentage went up was because of the Rooney Rule[2] that was put into place. This basically says that the policy requires league teams to interview African American candidates for head coaching and senior operation jobs as well. This was because of the long history of giving African Americans opportunities to serve in team leadership roles.
Black coaches, as a whole, have not been successful in the four major sports. When blacks have held head coaching or managerial positions, their performance has been disappointing, especially in basketball. In professional football and baseball, there are a few success stories, but white coaches generally have better records. Blacks often complain that they are underrepresented in coaching positions because of “racism.” The real explanation is that few of them have the ability for these  challenging jobs, and that is the justification I found as to why the percentages for this positions are so low. As I move further on in my research, I feel that it is important to note that by getting the perspective of coaches as well really helped me become even more intrigued in color barriers in sports and how they are slowly being broken over time, not just with athletes but with coaches as well. However, I have come to realize that having a coaches perspective has helped, but I need to refocus back on the athletes that actually broke these barriers to see if I can get anywhere that way. Nonetheless, this research helped me in answering my question about how far African Americans have come since the time of Jesse Owens. Looking back, it was unheard of to a black athlete competing in the Olympic games, let alone to becoming a professional athlete, to now being about to coach other professional athletes too. It honestly gives me goose bumps just thinking about that change in American sports!


[1] Picture. http://content.internetvideoarchive.com/content/photos/1223/nfl.JPG
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooney_Rule

Further research on: Black athletic Superiority

[1]

As I research more on the topic of Black athletic superiority, I decided to look at a book for evidence besides other websites to get raw opinions and first hand accounts of how this topic is being handled. The book that I came across is called Taboo: Why Black athletes dominate Sports and why we're afraid to talk about it. This book was able to give me a lot of answers regarding the questions I have been asking. Not only did it talk about the basis of the concept of Black athletic superiority, but also how we as a society want to try and ignore that it is actually true and we need to acknowledge these athletes for who they truly are. The thing that I liked about this book was that the author faced this issue head-on and didn't let any political correctness or other bias opinion get in the way of what he wanted to share. From reading pieces of the book, it is clear to see that athleticism in African Americans comes from only the biology and culture of the athlete, but not from any genetic advantages. As I read on, this book got me thinking on how if there is such a thing as the "dumb Black jock", then how come so many of them are successful. For instance, look at Michael Jordan. No only was he a great athlete, but he also had the smarts to start his own shoe/clothing line as well to market himself and make more money than he was before just as an athlete. So, he doesn't fit into this stereotype at all. With many cases of these stereotypes happening, the big picture here is that African Americans should be recognized the same was as every other athlete and have the same privileges. As I continued reading this book, I learned that "Black athletic superiority" was a huge issue for along period of time. Besides genetic factors being a possible issue, researchers started to blame environmental factors as well. They started to say how the genetics of the athlete can't determine how well they perform but depending on the environment they grew up and trained in could play a role in how hard they try as an athlete as well in sports. Even with the inherited attributes, these atheltes still will fall into racial groupings unfortunately. The research showed that their were indeed differences physically among blacks and white as far as size and shape go, but this still didn't show a correlation with sports performance. As time went on and reasrech continued even during the twentieth century, the majority of people started to decline the idea of black athletic superiorirty. Altohough some questions were still rasied about some performaces such as the Olympics, where black atheltes would dominate. But, for the most part, black athtletes started to be left alone from this sterotype and were able to just compete in the professional sports world. As I became immersed in this topic, I thought that I had my focused topic: Black athletic superiority. As I started to research in depth about this, I soon realized that there wasn't enough research done to really make enough blog posts about it. So, it was back to the drawing board to come up with more research topics and questions to focus my research again.

 An interesting spin that this takes is that even though African Americans are dominating the sports, the corporate leaders and coaches are all mainly in white hands still. This pushed me to want to research about a coaches perception on racial barriers in sports, so that is where my research headed to next. Over time; coaches, sport psychologists, trainers, doctors, and sport broadcasters all developed their own theories regarding the racial differences and their impact on sports., and I want to know if getting some of their perspectives could help in my opinion on the topic as well.

I chose to include this source because I feel that it is credible based on my evaluation of it. Primarily, it is a published book so I know the first hand source of where the info is coming from. By the fact that it was a book, I was to determine that it was useful for my research because I wanted more than just websites for info. Also, I say this because I determined it was credible by looking at what the reviews had to say about it and I found all good things written about it, including some from authors. In addition, I looked to see where it was published, which is Public Affairs Books from Perseus Books Group. In addition, I knew that this book was credible because it had a works cited area with all of the sources, as well as a copyright page to show it is legit. Overall, the texts purpose was to inform audiences about Black athletic superiority misconceptions and how we need to let black athletes have their voice heard. This helped me a lot with my purpose in turn because I really wanted to get additional knowledge on the black athletic superiority and how it related to color barriers in sports and where to move next and this pushed me to do so. The final way that I thought about this being a credible source was because the author's tone in quite direct and straight-forward about the topic. This affects the books usefulness as a source, especially for a researcher like me, because I know that they are giving me solid info and not writing just to fill space on a page. With all of this being said, I know to keep looking for credible sources similar to this one as I continue on.





Further reading can be done at: http://www.amazon.com/Taboo-Athletes-Dominate-Sports-Afraid/dp/158648026X#reader_158648026X
[1] Picture found at: http://www.africanbookstore.net/prodimages/taboo_lg.jpg

Race and Sports

[1]

As I started my research and gathering more on this topic of interest, I ran across a website, which really helped to be a launching pad into some more research that I needed to take, so I started by getting a broad scope of ideas of what racial barriers truly means in the eyes of other researchers too. I started simply by reading an article called Race and Sports, which just opened my mind to a lot of different avenues that I think could lead my project in many different directions, and hopefully to my general conclusion. By coming across this article first in the beginning research process, it really helped set in stone for my research base.
This article talked about the percentages in each professional sport of African American athletes, the view of race and sport in the United States and also the views that other countries have on the United States regarding this topic. Also, they focused on the physiological, environmental, and socioeconomic factors too and looked at if their factors played a significant role in athletic performance as well.
From this, I learned how in 2008, the NBA was 75% African American players, and the NFL was dominated too with 68% being black athletes. Basketball in the US went through a phase in the 80's and 90's where a majority of the players in the National Basketball Association (NBA) were black. This related with the era of Michael Jordan, making the views and statistics go upward. On the percentage topic, another part talked about the graduation rates of those NCAA to professional athletes which included that in a University of Central Florida study of 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament teams showed that only 59 percent of black players graduated, a contrast to the 91 percent of white players who completed their undergraduate studies. Again, this goes back to my previous post on how African Americans might have the athletic ability, but white Americans have the academic and socioeconomic ability advantage way more. I think that it is important to look at these statistics though because it shows how much these racial barriers have broken down over the years, which helps to answer my question on if they have changed over time. In correlation to this, in my opinion, I would say that just by looking at the percentages I found, I'll say it's true that nowadays the racial issue isn't as prevalent when it come to players in the pro circuit of sports, but that stigma still lingers a bit.

From all of this searching done, another one of the most interesting topics that I read in this article that pushed me to research further was a topic called "Black athletic superiority". This is a concept basically saying that over years of gathering info, professional researchers have found that they feel African American athletes seem to have an advantage in sports and competing due to the genetic background and how they are just slightly different in ways that help to excel them among other athletes. After reading further, I learned that this concept dates back and originated to when Jesse Owens was competing in Nazi Germany and had broke the Olympic records. Because this was not in the norm, people thought that it wasn't possible unless there was a reason such as a genetic advantage that could set them apart from other white athletes. The genetic advantage that mattered during this time was to be a part of the "Aryan" race, which meant that you had blonde hair and blue eyes. If you fell into this category, then you were considered to be superior. This is why when Jesse Owens came onto scene in the 1936 Olympics and didn't fit into this category, yet beat the Aryan race, it was big news.
 I used this article as a source in my searches because I deemed it as credible for a number of different reasons. First, it had all of the references listed so I knew that if I needed to do further research, I could go to them for that. Also, with the parts where the statistics were shown, there were footnotes given that took me to additional sources too if I need to learn more so I knew that I could count it as trustworthy. Through the author's tone, I could tell that it was scholarly writing, which shows there was a purpose behind it. The purpose I thought was to inform and educate the audience on the issue of race and sports combined and the effect they have when put together. This helped to achieve my purpose because I was wanting to know about these two topics combined more deeply as well.

From this article, I now have broken down my research to not only racial barriers in sports, but also the gender separation with the different races in the professional sports world. Along with this, I want to learn more about the "Black athletic superiority".  At this point in my research, I feel that I am developing more ideas and am getting closer to where I will find my general idea and conclusion.

Website can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_sports

[1]  Source: Bill Blancett, Funny World Championship Pictures (Blogger, 2011). http://bigrunningengine.blogspot.com/2011/09/funny-world-championships-pic.html

Fair Treatment and Discrimination in Sports

As I begin my research on the topic of racial barriers in sports, I thought that I would start by using a credible source such as Credo Reference to give me an idea of where my research should be headed. From this article, I found many interesting and different spinoffs regarding my topic that made me think in a lot of different directions. I decided that in order to go anywhere I needed to get some definitions on the topic so that I knew I was looking at the right ideas for this topic.
So, the first item that I looked up was Fair treatment in Sports. This basically means that it occurs when there are equitable resources and opportunities for all participants, regardless of social group membership (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, and social class). Unfair treatment in sport, in society as a whole, often comes from prejudices such as racism, sexism, and classism. By knowing this, I then can know that stereotypes and negative attitudes are the major roadblocks to sporting achievement, not lack of ability. With this, I found that I wanted to focus my research around these topics and break it down.
This article mainly talked about the social prejudices in sports and how not only is race an issue, but so are gender and religious aspects as well. This is giving me a solid start to go off of for looking at not only the racial side, but how the opportunity of the athlete to even be able play a sport is an issue too to be solved. With this research now under my belt, I feel that I can keep looking at other sources to find more in depth info on these topics.


As I picked this website, I evaluated it on how credible it was for me to discuss. I knew that it was trustworthy to use because it was coming from Credo Reference, which is a part of my library database system for research topics. On that note, I knew that it could be used because it was linked to my university in which I put my trust in. The important factor for me that set it apart form other research sites was that at the bottom of the web page, there were further readings and articles that I could go to if I wanted to read up on a particular topic more. Additionally, at the very bottom of the page, the sources are cited in Chicago, MLA, APA and Harvard styles to give you the citations in many different formats. This itself showed a lot of credibility because it shows they want to make sure people cite their source correctly and properly. Also, I know that the authors each have credibility because they each give their name at the bottom and a website to follow up with where you can find additional work of theirs, which shows they are truly scholarly writers and not just someone trying to make a profit off of the website. Going along with this, I know that the text's purpose is to inform and educate the audience regarding this topic. They do this well by not only breaking down into categories, but also showing a chart with the definitions to all of the keywords you may want to know when doing your research. This also helps in conveying their tone as an author as trustworthy because they are not giving you some random facts, but they are breaking it down into researchable topics for you to assist you on your way. This is important to note because it shows how they want your research to be a success and they are there to give you useful info to do so.











Further info can be found at: http://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/estappliedpsyc/fair_treatment_and_discrimination_in_sport/0?searchId=f0be729c-0ab5-11e6-9b6f-0a80f32943a1&result=4

YouTube Video

As I am doing my research, an idea that ran across my mind was to see if there were any YouTube videos[1] posted on this particular topic that could lead me to new ideas. Low and behold, there are indeed videos of others giving their opinion on this topic. Besides just my view, I wanted to get the opinion of another student about the same age as me on this topic at hand. This is important to have bceasue even though I am doing research and gathering info based off my opinion, it is still beneficial to remember who is "at the table" for this research and to shed light on another side. Of all the videos that I watched, the best one that I found prevalent to my research was the one I have linked to on here.
This video brings up a number of issues to be talked about such as phrases used like: "white men can't jump" and also how people classify quarterbacks in the NFL as "the best BLACK quarterback in the league" versus just saying "the best quarterback in the league" instead. This brings up a good point and shows where we are today with this topic. It shows how phrases like these are still being dropped loosely, and even though most don't think much of it, it still catches the attention of some people such as this guy in the video. This is also a good point to think about because as I started researching this topic of "color barriers in sports". One of the biggest stereotypes that I thought of is how the quarterback position is usually taken as the "rich, white, jock boy position". However, when you look at football today, that is not necessarily the case. So, I decided to look up the statistics[2] in the NFL to see how racial barriers have changed over time in this aspect. I found that African-American players currently comprise 67.3% of the league’s players, with 97% of them only being cornerbacks and 3% quarterbacks, which used to be an even lower percentage before at 1%. So, the question is where along the lines did this view come to change and how is it handled today?. Also. Would people still say that the quarterback position is a white man's position or not? I think it is important to note these instances of using these racial slurs like the man in the video said and by making others aware of them, we can move towards stopping them altogether. I wanted to add this video to my research journey because it gave me a look at how racial barriers in sports are today versus what I was studying before, which was the barriers back in history. This jumps us into classifying these stereotypes more, so that we can eventually be able to see where they are coming specifically and originated, which is also an answer that I hope to get from my research as I continue on.
The reason that I chose this source was because I mainly wanted to have an additional source shown besides all of these websites. As I was watching the videos, this one seemed the most credible because it showed a real person on the screen.. Also, in the description of the video, the author had said how the video was being done for a research project at his university as well, so I knew that it must have been trustworthy because he would be presenting it to others too so he wouldn't want false info to be given. The final reason I chose this to be credible was by the tone the author conveyed. From viewing, you could tell that he was serious and wanted to truly inform the audience about this topic, he wasn't fooling around. This helped me achieve my purpose as well because he informed me of some ideas that I can work with, as I mentioned earlier. With all of these elements combined, I was able to get a firmer grasp on all the info I have gathered so far and how I want to apply it coming from a credible source.


[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBDwb_YyyDoThis
[2]  http://uptownmagazine.com/2014/10/racial-breakdown-of-the-nfl-report-card/

Black athletes in a White America

[1]

As I am starting to conduct my initial research, I came across a book titled, Glory Bound: Black athletes in a White America,[2] that really covered every base needed to start research on athletes breaking color lines in America. This book captures everything from talking about those who went from the plantation to the playing field, to those such as Peter Jackson who struggled against the color line issue in America even in the late Nineteenth century. In addition, I learned the view of black athletes changed with the civil rights movement.

For starters, I really just want to learn how African Americans initially made the jump into white dominated sports after coming from slavery roots. From reading, I learned that the slaves would sometimes get a chance for "play" some days  and through this, they were able to capture their abilities and freedoms of what it was like to engage in a sport. Through 'play' is also where slave children would have the chance to become a little bit more educated. For one instance, a slave talked about how he learned his ABC's on the playing field. From the beginning, you can tell how blacks did not have as many privileges as white in not even having the chance to get an education unless it was through sports. Of all the reading done of this topic, I think the biggest difference that I found was the difference in equipment for each race. Whites would have nicer, equipment that they could buy and the blacks had to make the equipment themselves, usually from old scraps such as a baseball being made form yarn and a sock. From all of this, the best part to note is that these slave children would take pride in themselves and in their own self-worth as not only athletes, but also human beings too.
As I read further, I started to answer my question about how racial barriers have changed over time and they relate to today. One account is Peter Jackson, who was one of the first prominent fighters to emerge from black society to take on a well known white fighters. Yet, it should be known that at first, some white fighters wouldn't even get into the same ring as him because he was colored. Later on, he become the reigning world champion of boxing for years to come. It's important to remember that his father, also called Peter Jackson, was a warehouseman and he was the grandson of a freed slave who had been owned by a planter with the name of Jackson. This is just one account that shows how African Americans were coming from slave roots, but were slowly starting to make a name for themselves in the professional sports world early on in history. This is one story to think about as time moves forward for black athletes making their mark.


If we fast forward to the mid-twentieth century, we also see how color barriers are still an issue way after peter Jackson's time and shortly after Jesse Owens. As the Black Press started to become involved, talk such as "athletics were clearly no solution to the problems of race", they sort of set the stage as a way in for African Americans to have their voices heard. As the Civil Right movement came into full swing, social movements in the United States whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans and to secure legal and federal protection of the citizen rights were very prevalent. This is important because this is what launched African American athletes to take a stand for their race when it came to sports.


All in all, this book helped me to gain a better perspective on everything that African Americans went through besides just competing for their sport. From learning where racial lines were first drawn with slavery to learning how they fought for their rights as equal citizens in the civil rights era, African American athletes have truly earned their mark and voice to be recognized. As I start my research, I want to use the info that I learned in this book to give me a solid background of where I can go in researching about racial barriers in sports and just how much it correlates with the rest of African American history in sports as a whole.


I chose this book because I knew it was credible and trustworthy. This is because the author has his personal info included, as well as the publishers info. The book also tells where it is published, which is by the Syracuse University Press. In addition, the back of the book is filled with footnotes to topics discussed through the entire book and the places that the reader can go to get further info. Also, there is a bibliographic essay provided with reference to the sources used again in the book. From all of this, I can tell that the author's tone is clear and reliable because he includes all of these works in the book and goes into depth about every subject in each of the chapters, so that the reader can have a better understanding of the topics of each. With this, I realized that the purpose of the text was to go over this complex topic of what African Americans, specifically athletes, have experienced over the years and how they can participate in their sport while still being proud of their own cultural identity. Another key purpose that this book goes over is how the face of African American sports being recognized changed over time in the American culture. With this being said, these are perfect for the purpose of my research because it gives me lots of knowledge now to go off of besides knowing just about Jesse Owens and Nazi Germany. With this, I also started to think more in depth about where I want my research to head, but I still want to get some additional knowledge from other sources about racial barriers in professional sports in America overall.






















[1] Wiagins, David K. Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White America. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1997.
 [2]Wiagins, David K. Glory Bound: Black Athletes in a White America. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1997.

Racial barriers in professional sports today (intro)

[1]

Racial Barriers in the world of professional sports today

Color Barriers in sports crossing the line:

 

This blog is being created for the purpose of discussing this topic and the issues relevant to it. This research is based off of a project on the historical African American athlete and figure; Jesse Owens.
Jesse Owens was one of the first African American athletes to come onto scene and start the movement towards ending racial stereotypes and barriers all around the world, but specifically in the United States. Owens competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which was a significant event because he was the first to break Hitler's idea of there being a "superior" race. Adolf Hitler was a "monster in society", as I've been referring to because of what I'm studying in my current writing course. With this, it showed how Hitler was using the Olympic games to show the world a relentless Nazi Germany. He and other government officials had high hopes that German athletes would dominate the games with victories, not a thought of an African American beating them because they were inferior. Owens beat this theory by winning four gold medals at the Olympics and forever changed the view on African American freedom especially in the United States. I say United States because this is where the Civil Rights era happened and also where laws such as the Emancipation Proclamation were put into place, which leads me into where I want to focus my research more. With this being said, I feel that I could easily research and relate to finding answers for this topic if I broke it down to looking at racial barriers in sports in just the United States alone. Along the way, I might come across other views from other people in different countries, but I want to learn just about United States professional sports for my purpose right now. I also want to be researching from before the time of Jesse Owens in the mid to late 1930's, to during his time, and to currently.  Along with this, the time period today and how stereotypes in sports are dealt with versus how bad they were before.
When I was working on this project about Jesse Owens, it piqued my interest to research more in depth about racial barriers in sports. Along with this, I got to thinking more about how I was interested to see how racial stereotypes in sports have changed over time, if they are more prevalent in certain sports than others, and the stereotypes that are still existing today that we should work towards demolishing. As I started to ask these questions, it launched me into wanting to research more and find the answers myself. I want to learn about this because I am an avid sports lover myself, but I also have always been bothered quite heavily with the racial stereotypes and barriers that I feel still always come up in society today and how it shouldn't be that way. With being around sports, this is the topic I chose to focus in depth more on because I could relate it to myself more and develop feelings on how things should be. In relation to this, I become very curious on how racial barriers in sports are an issue to be addressed and I am curious if I can be a person to make a difference and stop them somehow from continuing further. In addition, a final reason that this topic sparked my interest is because I came from a college before that was heavily dominated by African American and other ethnic backgrounds in their sports and rarely any white Americans. This really caught my attention because it made me think how times have really changed, and even at this particular university, the tables almost seemed to do a complete 180 turn because there were more athletes that were colored than whites, as well as a lot more international students versus residents of the United States. So, I am looking to research more about this topic to help further my knowledge on these ideas, answer my questions, and to be able to show people I might meet down the road the impact of racial barriers in sports truly do have. As you can see, there are many thoughts and questions that I have now, but I know through more research, I will start to get them answered.

With all of that being said, What is your opinion on color barriers in sports? Do you think that racial stereotypes still exist today in sports? If so, what sports do you see this the most? (Regarding just the professional realm, not amateur).

[1] Source: Jay Busbee, Nelson Mandela- 'Sport has the power to change the world' (Yahoo! Sports: NBC Sports Network, 2013).