African-American Athletes
In the pre-World War II years, the Black athlete was restricted from competition in all the professional sports. Only in the Olympics, because of its international nature, were Black athletes allowed to compete unrestricted.
After World War II, the attitude of Black people changed dramatically. For most people, Jackie Robinson has the honor of integrating professional sports by signing with baseball’s Brooklyn Dodgers.
Today, are Blacks now represented in all sports at all levels?
Why do you think Blacks were not allowed to play sports with the Whites?
Do you believe that Blacks now have an equal opportunity to play sports?
Please cite examples from the video you saw last week.
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:55 pm
I think that African Americans were not allowed to play sports with the Americans because the Americans looked down on the them for their different skin color. They also thought that the African Americans were weak and vacuous so that even if they played sports, they would just end up losing in the end.
African Americans are just like us because no matter if you’re brown, white, or red we’re all the same on the inside. We all have blood flowing inside of us but just because of the Black’s skin color they were treated differently in a bad way.
Today African Americans are represented in all sports at all levels because society put a stop to racism. But, if it had not there wouldn’t be as many sport stars as there are today.
September 22nd, 2008 at 4:35 pm
First of all, I know that the Blacks weren’t allowed to play games with the White people because they had a different skin color than the Whites. Also, the Blacks were known to be dumber and weaker than the Whites. Also, there weren’t many Blacks to play in the sports because of slavery before the Civil War.
Blacks are now seen in sports at all levels because someone like Martin Luther King Jr. affected the way the Whites treated the Blacks. I think that someone stopped racism because it wasn’t fair to the Blacks. It wasn’t fair for the Blacks because they had little freedom and had to be slaves, but the White people had total freedom to tell the Blacks to do this or do that. I don’t think it’s that fair.
September 22nd, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Today Blacks are allowed to play all sports that Whites can play in. I think the White people finally let the Blacks play all the sports because the Whites finally figured out that Blacks are equal to Whites and they can play sports just as good as they can, sometimes even better! Look at Jack Johnson, he was a famous Black boxer. Jackie Robinson was a great baseball player! They were all Black people.
I think Blacks to the Whites was similar to the situation with Jews to Hitler. I think the Whites thought they were dumb people who were crazy, stupid and couldn’t do anything. But obviously they are not. They are actually really smart.
I think that nowadays all Blacks have an equal amount of opportunity to play sports as White people. Sometimes even more opportunities!
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Blacks are represented in all levels of sports because some Blacks stepped up to the plate and told the Whites that they’re just the same as them. The Blacks showed the Whites with their actions that they were not less nor more than the Whites. They were equal and should had been treated with as much respect as the Whites. Some of the people that stood up for their rights to be treated fairly and took all the cruel teasing were Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Ruby Bridges.
I think the Whites would not want the Blacks to play professional sports because the Whites thought that the Blacks would be better than them and dominate the sport. I think that the Blacks would be good at sports because they are naturally big, tall, muscular, and fast. I also think the White audience would not want to see a Black person playing against a White and winning. The Whites thought the Blacks were not worthy of playing with them.
Those people that I mentioned made a change in how the Whites saw the Blacks. They probably thought that they were equals. They were all humans, they saw that they should be able to play sports with the Whites. The people like Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron showed that even a person that was a different skin color could play sports with the Whites and also be better then them. Some examples from the movie were Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, and Mohammad Ali.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Today I am happy because now Blacks are allowed to play and compete in all sports. Before, the Blacks couldn’t play in any sports. Because the Black people kept fighting for their rights they are now allowed to play all the sports.
I think Blacks were not allowed to play with the Whites because the Whites were very racist and hated the Blacks because the Whites used to think they were dirty and dumb. They also thought that they could not play sports like the Whites.
I think that Blacks now have the same rights in sports and the same amount of respect as the other people. Some of the top players are even Black.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Yes, Blacks are represented in all levels of sports because Blacks stood up to the Whites and fought for their rights that they could play in all levels of sport and that they should be treated the same as White people. When the Whites didn’t let the Blacks play in all levels of sports they would make their own league and all the Blacks who wanted to play that sport got into the Black League.
Because the Whites thought that they were better than the Blacks, they made the Blacks slaves instead of letting them be free and play all sports. The Whites thought that the Blacks were not equal to them so they thought that they were like rubbish so they treated them like rubbish. They treated their pets better than the Blacks so they didn’t care if they were hurt. Some places like restaurants only allowed White people.
Yes, I do believe that Blacks have an equal opportunity to play sports because now the Whites believe that everyone is equal so now the people who pick players don’t judge them by what race they are but by their statistics.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:53 pm
I think that the Blacks were not allowed to play in sports with White people because most of the White people were racist and they did not like the African Americans. That is why people have debated whether Blacks should play sports.
African Americans are better than the other Americans at sports and they are becoming recognized. I think that the Americans should have let them play in the first place. It does not matter what is on the outside, it is what is in the inside that truly matters.
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Blacks have an equal opportunity to play sports because the Black people showed the White people that they were just as good as them. Even though their skin was a different color, the Blacks could play sports just as good as them. It was people like Rosa Parks who stood up to the White people and said that Whites are not better than Blacks.
I think that back then White people didn’t want to let the Black people play sports because a lot of the White people thought that Blacks were dirty and that White people were better than Blacks, but the Blacks proved them wrong by making their own teams and playing sports.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I think that Blacks were not allowed to play sports back then because of the same reasons that we thought that African Americans should be slaves. It’s because we thought that they were a dirty race and they had no civilization at all! Maybe some people still think like that.
If you really think of it, it’s like when Hitler just wanted to kill all the Jews because he thought that they were a dirty race, just like how we thought about the Blacks.
I think that Blacks are now treated the same in sports because if you look at sports now. you’ll allways find at least 10 Blacks in every sport today.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:06 pm
Today African Americans have the opportunity to play all sorts of sports and compete in the Olympics. They can do a lot of things because they now have equal rights.
In the past, African Americans were great in sports but were turned down by Americans to play in the Major Leagues and the Olympics. They were looked down on because of the color of their skin and said to be weaker than Americans.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Today, Blacks are allowed to play and compete in sports. The situation had changed since World War II when Blacks were totally off-limits from playing profession sports, except in the Olympics.
The reason why I think that Blacks were not allowed to play with the Whites is the Whites were very prejudiced against Blacks because of their background just because their ancestors were slaves. Another thing is that Whites thought they were better than Blacks just because the color of their skin. But look at some of the most famous athletes who were Blacks such as Jack Johnson and Joe Louis (famous boxers), Jackie Robinson, Wille Mays and Hank Aaron (famous baseball players), and Jesse Owens and Marion Jones (famous track and field athletes). These are some or the really famous athletes who eventully got put into the Hall Of Fame. Whites also thought that Blacks would end up dominating the sport and the people playing it, so they didn’t give them a chance.
Yes I do think Blacks have the same rights as everybody else to play sports, now that they have the same respect when they step up to the plate and walk on to the field. But, the credit should go to the wonderful players before that had the guts to play and earn the respect from other people.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
African American people play in all sports at all levels today.
I think Blacks were not allowed to play sports with Whites because White people thought they were better than colored skin people such as Blacks, Reds, and Yellows, so they didn’t want to play with them.
I think Black people do have equal rights in sports now because they play in all sports.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I think African American athletes are now very lucky and deserve to play sports with White people. It was very sad that White people wouldn’t let dark-skinned people play sports, I mean, why does it matter? Just because a person has dark skin, it makes them no different because we are all humans. I think Black people should have equal rights and should be allowed to play sports, get jobs and do everything that all White people and people of all races do. We are all equals as humans but what we do with our lives and how we achieve our goals makes us different as people.
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:49 am
I think Black people are represented in all sports today. They are good in all sports, and I think they were so good that White people banned them. I think the White people in the old days were embarrassed that the Black people could win
championships. They told everyone that Blacks were junk and didn’t know how to play baseball, football, and basketball. I think Blacks do have a better chance to play in sports now because people aren’t racist or they don’t treat Black like animals. Well I hope I’m right because if I am wrong, it would be terrible.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 am
Nowadays Blacks do show up more in sports. I see Black tennis players, runners, and baseball players. I see a lot of Blacks on our football teams. Blacks weren’t able to play with the Whites because the Whites thought they were better. In basketball games, the Whites thought they would win easily so they didn’t want to play with the Blacks. Blacks now have an equal amount of opportunity to play sports. Even in the Olympics, I saw many blacks from Jamaica.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Now Blacks are in almost every sport and the best players are usually Black. I think Blacks are representing sports better than Whites. I think Blacks weren’t allowed to play with the Whites because the Whites thought the Blacks might beat them and then everyone would look down on them because they got beaten by Blacks. (It would be embarassing to lose to people who you thought were less than human). I think that Blacks now have more opportunity to play sports because they earned respect by beating the White people so many times.
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Today Blacks are allowed to play in all sports. I think that Blacks weren’t allowed to play sports because Whites thought that Blacks were stupid and mean. Another reason is that people thought that Blacks were going to beat the Whites. Another thing is that when Blacks played against a White, the audience would only cheer for the White person. When a Black played against a White and the Black won, you would hear silence in the crowd.
Gladly people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King stepped up to the plate and tried to stop racism. Today, Blacks are now allowed to play in sports. There are a lot of African American stars in sports.
September 23rd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I think Blacks were not allowed to play sports with the Whites because the Whites thought the Blacks were stupid and dumb. Also the Whites thought that Blacks would become better players than them, and that would ruin the reputation of the White platers. The White audiences only cheered for the White people, so when the Whites won, the Whites cheered loudly and joyfully. But when the Blacks won, the crowd would go silent.
Thankfully, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks fougth for their beliefs and changed the ways that the Whites looked down on the Blacks. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks were examples to us to always fight for your rights and stand up for yourself.
I think the Black people now have equal opportunity to play any sport because I always see Blacks on baseball teams, football teams and soccer teams.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Blacks are now all over the world playing sports. Whites didn’t want to let Blacks into the professional league because firstly, they didn’t want Blacks playing in the game because Whites thought that Blacks were stupid and dumb. Furthermore, Whites thought that Blacks would be better players than Whites were and they could ruin their reputations.
When they finally let Blacks play pro baseball, the Whites would only cheer for the Whites and when the Blacks won, the crowd would just be silent and leave.
Some Blacks like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks fought for their rights and changed the way everyone looked at each other. They taught us that even though we have our differences, we also have similarities. We all have the same hopes and dreams and we all have jobs and hearts.
I think that Black people have the same amount of opportunities to play sports as White people do now. They are everywhere and they deserve to be treated like everybody else.
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I think that the Whites didn’t allow Blacks to play sports with them because they thought that the Blacks were dumb, stupid, and lower-ranking people than they were. I also think that the Whites were scared that the Blacks would beat them, and they didn’t want to see a White pro challenging a Black player and losing to a Black person. I don’t think that the Blacks deserved to be treated like dogs and made slaves. The Whites were so racist that they made Blacks have their own league for Blacks only. I think that Blacks were naturally better at sports then Whites because Blacks were smart, strong, tall and fast.
Black people today are represented in all sports in all levels around the world because some Blacks decided to tell the Whites that they were all equal and that they should have equal respect. The Blacks weren’t more or less than the White people. Some of the Black people that stood up for their rights were Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr. and Ruby Bridges.
I believe that Blacks now have an equal opportunity to play sports because when the Whites saw that the Blacks were equal they let the Blacks play pro sports against Whites. People like Jackie Robinson, Jack Johnson, Hank Aaron and Mohammad Ali showed that it didn’t matter what color your skin was, anyone could play sports with Whites and beat them. These are some examples from the movie that we watched.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Wow! I didn’t realize that the Whites disliked the Blacks so much that they didn’t allow them to play sports with them. I always thought that the Whites didn’t care if the Blacks played sports or not. I thought this because today there are a lot of Blacks that are playing sports in the Olympics and in Worldwide Championships. The Blacks also play at different levels instead of staying at a certain level.
I believe that the White people didn’t want the Black people playing sports because they thought that that the Blacks weren’t able to play sports well and that they were dumb and weak. Also because they were afraid that the Blacks were better and faster than them, and would look bad if people they thought were weak beat them.
I think now we are being fair thanks to Black heroes and other people that showed us what was happenng to them and the things we were doing to them. It made us see all the bad things we were doing to them and other people.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:03 pm
I think African-American athletes should have a right to play professional sports because for some people their livelihood is playing professional sports like Jackie Robinson. Jack Johnson was a famous boxer but he got kicked out of the country because he was better than all the Whites.
Just because your skin color is Black does not mean that they are dumb. The Africans were smart enough to lay down rules, make a new language out of scratch, and know how to make governments, just like Europeans.
Even the Blacks had their own league of baseball called the Negro league and they were passionate about it.
September 24th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
To the first question, YES! There are a lot of Black people playing sports today.
Then, when they (the Whites) would challenge the Blacks and lose, they would say it was unfair and not want to play with them. Also, when Jack Johnson [a wrestler/ boxer] won the heavyweight title, 8) the Whites became afraid of the Blacks, and, in conclusion, banned Blacks from playing with Whites. >(
To the second question, I think it is because of the White man’s paradigm. Since they thought they were better than the Blacks, they thought they were better than them.
Lastly, I DO agree.
I think Blacks now have, indeed, equality in sports. My evidence is of the things which I said in the first paragraph.
September 24th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
>:(
September 29th, 2008 at 11:05 am
I think Blacks were not allowed to play sports because the Whites did not like the Blacks and they could not do many things because of their skin color. But I think that they should be allowed to play any sport they want to. Today, they can play any sport and it should be like that forever.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:13 am
I know that the Blacks weren’t allowed to play with White people because of their skin color. They may not be smarter because they did not have the money for education. Another thing is that there were not a lot of Blacks playing sports because of slavery back then.
People can play all together now because of a guy named Martin Luther King Jr. I think he stopped segreagation because it was not fair to Blacks and he was a Black but he also cared for others. It was not fair at all to the Blacks because they had little freedom and the Whites had a lot of freedom because they could tell the blacks to do this and that. I think that is not fair at all to me.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Today, Black people are playing sports. In fact, they are the ones who are the best. I think that the Whites were kind of jealous or they thought too much about themselves. Yes, they do have equal opportunity now since Jackie played with the Whites and he got along with them. Years later, Black people got way more rights.