African American Women And Sports

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate October 2001

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

The Connection between African-American Women and Competitive Sports Marian Moawad 205382841 Assignment #1 Inquiry Paper AS/SC KINE 1000 4.0 Foundations Section B Dr. Greg Malszecki October 10, 2001 Recreation and sports comes off as leisure and entertainment in today's society. Efforts of Women Groups (such as the Women's Division of the Athletic Amateur Federation) and Colored Associations have struggled in the last century to bring about multiracial, male and female equal opportunities. Cindy Himes Gissendanner indicates how females (particularly African-Americans) participated in the endeavor and success of achieving equality for women between the two world wars. The determination of African-American women is evident as they disregarded how the white's and African-American men viewed them, and continued to prove themselves . Their confidence gained them recognition, money and support. Gissendanner's positively defends African-American women through her efforts to accentuate the adamantine work and labor that they went through, rather than stressing only on the rejection they were subjected to.

Her argument discusses how through racial segregation, African-American women are seen as rejecters of the white female athletic model.

Women's sports to begin with, was not a supported aspect of society in the earlier, recent centuries. The Women's Division of National Amateur Athletic Federation campaigned for female sports, with the desire to have qualified women control these leagues. They saw no reason for men to be the coaches and leaders considering their lack of understanding the female body and mind. To women, sports was for the soul purpose of just having a simple, healthy, fun time. This movement however did not accommodate the African-American women. They had to work dependently through their umbrella groups, and away from white's and male African-Americans. Their brothers only grew to support them for the sake of making a point to the world that they...