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Black players participated in the National Football League from its inception in 1920; however, there were no African-American players from 1933 to 1946.

In October 2018, George Taliaferro, the first African American who played in NFL died at the age of 91.

copied from race and sports.

There is a great deal of speculation as to why this “gentleman’s agreement”, as it became to be called, was implemented during this era. Some argue that it was purely because of the Great Depression. Jobs were difficult to come by, and thus race relations became increasingly strained as African-Americans, and other minorities, became perceived as “threats”. Finally, in 1946, the Los Angeles Rams broke this unofficial “agreement” and drafted Kenny Washington along with Woody Strode in the same year. The final NFL team to break this agreement was the Washington Redskins, who signed Bobby Mitchell in 1962.

While George was the first African American drafted to play in the NFL, the first African American would not be drafted as the Quarterback until 1953, when Willie Thrower was drafted to play with the Chicago Bears. It wouldn’t be for another 14 years, 1967, until the first African American, Emlen Tunnell, would be elected for the NFL Hall of Fame.

Now, the NFL has a player base consisting of 70% African American, making the majority of the players in the NFL non-white. However, while this number certainly is impressive, the number of Latinos, Asians, and other non-White ethnicities only make up around 3% of the player base. Many have argued that there isn’t much excitement in the Asian population towards football, and that is why this ethnic group is underrepresented. However, while there is an impressive amount of African Americans in the NFL, this diversity does not extend to all positions. While whites only make up 12.5% of running backs, they make up 97.8% of punters and kickers.

Regarding Jesse Owen’s impressive four-gold medal performance in the following 1936 Olympics, the then U.S head coach remarked that “The Negro excels. It was not long ago that his ability to sprint and jump was a life-and-death matter to him in the jungle. His muscles are pliable, and his easy going disposition is a valuable aid to the mental and physical relaxation that a runner and jumper must have.”

Later in 2003, in The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, the JBHE Foundation published an article where they pushed back against this idea of a “black gene” leading to black superiority in athletics, a concept referred to here as “Racist Theory”. The JBHE contended that “If there is a “black gene” that leads to athletic prowess, why then do African Americans, 90 percent of whom have at least one ancestor, outperform blacks from African nations in every sport except long distance running?”

This history of racial tension in the competition between whites and minority groups shows an attempt to prove the humanity, equality, and even occasionally their superiority on the playing field. By doing so, groups of minorities hoped that sports would serve as a source for racial pride that would eventually lead to upward social mobility. However, as early as 1984, criticism has been levied against these ideas. Sports sociologist Harry Edwards openly criticized African Americans as being “co-conspirators” in their own children’s exploitation by the white dominated sports establishment. Edwards continued by arguing that placing so much emphasis on sports achievement as a way for minority groups, specifically referring to African Americans, to achieve some level of prominence is deemphasizing the importance of intellectual pursuits.

Baseball

The representation of different races in Major League Baseball has been increasing since

1947 according to Mark Armour and Daniel R levitt of the Society for American Baseball

Research. According to their research, African American representation reached its peak in 1984

when it reached 18.4%. However, the African American representation has been steadily

decreasing since that point. As of 2016, the African American representation was down to

6.7%.

According to Armour and Levitt, the Latino representation has been steadily increasing

since 1947. That year, the representation was only at 0.7%. Since that time, the Latino

representation in baseball has increased substantially. As of 2016, the Latino representation was

at 27.4%.

Asian American representation in baseball has been much less abundant throughout the

game’s history according to Armour and Levitt. Their representation in the Major League did

not get over 1% until 1999 when their representation was at 1.2%. While the representation is

increasing, it is doing so significantly slower than the other races. As of 2016 Asian American

representation was only at 2.1%, a small increase from 1999.

According to Armour and Levitt, Whites make up the largest portion of the different

races represented in the Major League. However, their representation has been steadily

declining as the African American, Asian, and Latino representation has been steadily on the

rise. The Society for American Baseball research shows that white representation was at 98.3%

in 1947. Since then, representation has decreased to 63.7% in 2016.

In a journal titled Using Giddens's Structuration Theory to Examine the Waning

Participation of African Americans in Baseball, it says “Numerous studies have shown that

African-American youths are more likely than Whites to be encouraged and even directed to play

basketball over other sports."

Golf

Throughout the game’s history, golf has not included many African-American players.

They were often denied the opportunity to golf. However, many found a way to play the game

anyway. According to an article by the African-American Registry titled African-Americans and

Golf, a Brief History, “the Professional Golf Association of America (PGA) fought hard and

until 1961, successfully maintained its all-white status. Black golfers (then) created their own

organization of touring professionals.”

Tiger Woods has had a major impact on the game of golf, especially among minorities.

The article, African-Americans and Golf, a Brief History, states “With the assent of Tiger Woods

and his golf game comes an increased interest and participation from young minorities in the

game. He himself envisions this impacting in the next ten years as they come of age and develop

physically as well ." Woods hopes minority participation will continue to increase in

the future.

African American participation in golf has been increasing. In a journal titled African

American Culture and Physical Skill Development Programs: The Effect on Golf after Tiger

Woods, it says “Smith (1997) reported data from a National Golf Foundation (NDF) study in the

United States indicating there are 676,000 African-American golfers (27% of the 24.7 million

golfers)."

As African-American participation increased, Asian participation in professional golf has

also increased. According to an article by Golfweek titled Record Number of Asian Golfers

Compete for Masters Glory, there were 10 golfers which was a tournament record.

According to the article Where are all the black golfers? Nearly two decades after Tiger

Woods’ arrival, golf still struggles to attract minorities, As of 2013 there were 25.7 million

golfers which are composed of 20.3 million whites, 3.1 million hispanics, 1.3 million

African-Americans, and 1 million Asian-Americans. The lack of diversity is still

very apparent in golf today.

Review - Seth Abrams
The information in this article is very informative. The paragraphs are organized well, and if you added headings it would make it easy to find the changes in sports if someone was coming to your page specifically for one sport. Good topic, good work!\

Review- James Norris
The beginning of the article was slightly confusing, the first sentence was a great introduction to the third paragraph but the sentence about George Taliaferro in the middle did not fit there very well. Other than that, the article was organized very well. I do agree with Seth that headings would make the article much easier to follow. Overall, I really enjoyed the topic and the information suggested, and a couple of small changes could make the article even better.