HIST337 Final || with Confirmed Answers.
Path to Integration 1933-1945 correct answers • Baseballs integration story is the most important
• No hope for integration pre-1930, but Depression opens up dialogue as professional baseball is
hit hard
• Suggestions proposed by white sportswriters in early 1933 as to whether Depression would
include integration.
• Split seasons, thoughts of Inter-League play to promote games and sell more tickets
Black Sportswriters mount investigational campaign in 1933 correct answers • Pittsburgh Corrier
and Chicago Defender attempt to determine MLBs attitude toward integration.
• Major League officials respond but don't admit to a color line
o Many claimed they were not allowed in based on skill not race but that's not consistent with the
talent of players in the Negro Leagues.
• Awareness was raised but not much success.
Negro Leagues make their own contributions in the early 30's correct answers • Development of
superstars such as pitcher Satchel Paige and catcher Josh Gibson.
• More frequent rentals of Major League parks demonstrate talent and sizable black baseball
audience.
o More exposure
Other factors contributing in the Depression correct answers • Example of Louis and Owens
o Made the Olympic team better, why not domestic teams?
• Role of American Communist Party through its newspaper, the Daily Worker.
• By 1939, black press, white liberals, Communist party all pushing for integration, but
resistance continues - why?
Reasons for continued resistance in late 1930s correct answers • Plain old bigotry/ racism
• Southern issues
o Segregation laws
• Economic fears
o Some believe that integration will scare away white fans
• Stressful business (MLB) seeing no reason to change
• Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis - his role? (Probably overstated)
1960s and sports correct answers -sports affected by major societal developments of late 1960s
1945- War coming to close correct answers • Major and minor league baseball decimated with
loss of players to military.
• Resorting to using very old/young players; even one legged/ one arm players (Bert
Shepard/Pete Gray)
• Some encouraging news in early 1945 with passage of new state law in New York; Ives-Quinn
Law; creates state agency which will ban employment discrimination in state of NY
, • Can this law be used to fight segregation in sports? Black reporter Joe Bostic decides to take
two Negro League players to the Brooklyn Dodgers' spring training camp at Bear Mountain, NY
in April to force tryout.
o Gave them a tryout but said they weren't good enough (too old).
Branch Rickey correct answers • Team president Branch Rickey agrees to let them work out but
deems them too old.
• Rickey secretly working on his own plan for integration
• Baseball lifer as player/manager/executive - known for supposedly religious qualities
• Had already revolutionized the game once with extensive use of the "farm system"
o Professional teams had minor teams below them in their control that they could advance
players through their development and control talent (Minor Leagues).
• Moved from St. Louis Cardinals to Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942 and began secret scouting
program.
Jackie Robinson correct answers • Signing announced on October 23, 1945; contract with
Montreal Royals (Dodgers minor league affiliate).
• Better known as a college football player but had played with Kansas City Monarchs of Negro
American League in 1945.
• No compensation for Monarchs as they did not have a formal contract with Robinson.
• Rickey signs four more Negro League players in late 1945- early 1946; all five will appear in
minor leagues in 1946
• Robinson promoted to Brooklyn Dodgers for 1947 season (see Tygiel Reading)
• Encounters hostility early in 1947 but has a sensational season.
• Becomes a celebrity and national hero to African Americans and whites
• Symbolic importance of breaking color barrier in baseball and what it means to other areas of
American life.
Integration accelerates in baseball and other sports after 1947 correct answers • Competitive
concerns
• Context of what is happening in American life with civil rights gains in postwar America
• By 1959, all MLB teams integrated.
• Integration in NFL: Kenny Washington, 1946 with Los Angeles Rams
• Integration in NBA: Earl Loyd, 1950 with Washington Capitals
• Integration in NHL: Willie O'Ree, 1958 with Boston Bruins
• College Football in the South - see Breaking the Huddle video
Women in American Sports Part 1 correct answers • Reflected by societal attitudes towards
women
• Early Victorian era (1830s-1860s); ideal woman fragile and should not participate in
exercise/sports; reinforced by restrictive clothing.
• Not all agree - see comments by female doctor and reading by Catharine Beecher from 1855.
o Mentions that corsets are unhealthy and cover up women's figures
Separate spheres correct answers • Beecher's suggestions, while progressive for the times, are
based in traditional attitudes
Path to Integration 1933-1945 correct answers • Baseballs integration story is the most important
• No hope for integration pre-1930, but Depression opens up dialogue as professional baseball is
hit hard
• Suggestions proposed by white sportswriters in early 1933 as to whether Depression would
include integration.
• Split seasons, thoughts of Inter-League play to promote games and sell more tickets
Black Sportswriters mount investigational campaign in 1933 correct answers • Pittsburgh Corrier
and Chicago Defender attempt to determine MLBs attitude toward integration.
• Major League officials respond but don't admit to a color line
o Many claimed they were not allowed in based on skill not race but that's not consistent with the
talent of players in the Negro Leagues.
• Awareness was raised but not much success.
Negro Leagues make their own contributions in the early 30's correct answers • Development of
superstars such as pitcher Satchel Paige and catcher Josh Gibson.
• More frequent rentals of Major League parks demonstrate talent and sizable black baseball
audience.
o More exposure
Other factors contributing in the Depression correct answers • Example of Louis and Owens
o Made the Olympic team better, why not domestic teams?
• Role of American Communist Party through its newspaper, the Daily Worker.
• By 1939, black press, white liberals, Communist party all pushing for integration, but
resistance continues - why?
Reasons for continued resistance in late 1930s correct answers • Plain old bigotry/ racism
• Southern issues
o Segregation laws
• Economic fears
o Some believe that integration will scare away white fans
• Stressful business (MLB) seeing no reason to change
• Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis - his role? (Probably overstated)
1960s and sports correct answers -sports affected by major societal developments of late 1960s
1945- War coming to close correct answers • Major and minor league baseball decimated with
loss of players to military.
• Resorting to using very old/young players; even one legged/ one arm players (Bert
Shepard/Pete Gray)
• Some encouraging news in early 1945 with passage of new state law in New York; Ives-Quinn
Law; creates state agency which will ban employment discrimination in state of NY
, • Can this law be used to fight segregation in sports? Black reporter Joe Bostic decides to take
two Negro League players to the Brooklyn Dodgers' spring training camp at Bear Mountain, NY
in April to force tryout.
o Gave them a tryout but said they weren't good enough (too old).
Branch Rickey correct answers • Team president Branch Rickey agrees to let them work out but
deems them too old.
• Rickey secretly working on his own plan for integration
• Baseball lifer as player/manager/executive - known for supposedly religious qualities
• Had already revolutionized the game once with extensive use of the "farm system"
o Professional teams had minor teams below them in their control that they could advance
players through their development and control talent (Minor Leagues).
• Moved from St. Louis Cardinals to Brooklyn Dodgers in 1942 and began secret scouting
program.
Jackie Robinson correct answers • Signing announced on October 23, 1945; contract with
Montreal Royals (Dodgers minor league affiliate).
• Better known as a college football player but had played with Kansas City Monarchs of Negro
American League in 1945.
• No compensation for Monarchs as they did not have a formal contract with Robinson.
• Rickey signs four more Negro League players in late 1945- early 1946; all five will appear in
minor leagues in 1946
• Robinson promoted to Brooklyn Dodgers for 1947 season (see Tygiel Reading)
• Encounters hostility early in 1947 but has a sensational season.
• Becomes a celebrity and national hero to African Americans and whites
• Symbolic importance of breaking color barrier in baseball and what it means to other areas of
American life.
Integration accelerates in baseball and other sports after 1947 correct answers • Competitive
concerns
• Context of what is happening in American life with civil rights gains in postwar America
• By 1959, all MLB teams integrated.
• Integration in NFL: Kenny Washington, 1946 with Los Angeles Rams
• Integration in NBA: Earl Loyd, 1950 with Washington Capitals
• Integration in NHL: Willie O'Ree, 1958 with Boston Bruins
• College Football in the South - see Breaking the Huddle video
Women in American Sports Part 1 correct answers • Reflected by societal attitudes towards
women
• Early Victorian era (1830s-1860s); ideal woman fragile and should not participate in
exercise/sports; reinforced by restrictive clothing.
• Not all agree - see comments by female doctor and reading by Catharine Beecher from 1855.
o Mentions that corsets are unhealthy and cover up women's figures
Separate spheres correct answers • Beecher's suggestions, while progressive for the times, are
based in traditional attitudes
