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AN ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN SPORTSWOMEN IN TWO NEGRO NEWSPAPERS: THE PITTSBURGH COURIER, I924-I948 AND THE CHICAGO DEFENDER, 1932- 1948
Williams, Linda Darnette, Ph.D.
The Ohio State University, I98V
© 1987
Williams, Linda Darnette
All rights reserved
UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106
AN ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN SPORTSWOMEN IN TWO NEGRO
NEWSPAPERS: THE PITTSBURGH COURIER. 1924-1948
AND THE CHICAGO DEFENDER. 1932-1948
DISSERTATION
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for
the Degree doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate
School of The Ohio State University
By
Linda D. Williams, B.S., M.A.
*****
The Ohio State University
1987
Dissertation Coinmittee:
Seymour Kleinman
Melvin Adelman / Advl^r ^ h o o l of He^th, Physical K. Sue Jewell Education, and Recreation Copyright by Linda Darnette Williams 1987 To William Allen Bartow and Mary Margaret Fabbro
11. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to many, many individuals who contributed to my emotional, personal, and professional development. It has been by the "grace of God" and faithful friends that I have had the courage to endure the rigors of the Ph.D. program and the challenges of writing the dissertation. I am especially grateful to those
friends and families who opened their hearts and homes to me throughout my years as a college student.
My deepest appreciation goes to Rachel Castle,
Merilyn Parkins and "Mom" Baggett who have been the
"backbone" of my support unit since 1975, both at the
University of North Carolina and throughout my tenure at
Ohio State University.
I am also thankful for the guidance and knowledge I
acquire through my work with Coach Mamie Railins and as a
student of Dr. Randy Bobbitt.
I also wish to express my appreciation to Katie Ellis
of the Biometerics Lab for her technical assistance and to
The Center of Women's Studies who was the first
organization to provide financial assistance for my study.
Ill To Peg Fabbro, I offer my sincere thanks and
everlasting love for her faith in me and the worthiness of my research. Not only did she serve as my reading partner
during the transition from sport management to sport
history, but she spent endless hours sharing her knowledge
and guiding me as I struggled to grasp the area of sport
history.
My sincere appreciation is extended especially to Dr.
Seymour Kleinman who chaired my dissertation, and to the
other members of the committee.
IV VITA
May 16, 1955 Born - Whiteville, North Carolina
1977 B.A., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
1978 M.A.T., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
August 1987 - Present Carolina Minority Post-doctoral fellow. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
1985-1986 Coordinator, First Annual Research and Scholarly Activities Forum, Columbus, Ohio.
1986-1987 Vice President, Council of Graduate Students, Columbus, Ohio.
1984-1986 Academic Advisor, University College, Columbus, Ohio
1982-1984 Graduate Administrative Associate, Women's Cross Country/Track and Field, Columbus, Ohio.
FIELDS OF STUDY
Major Field: Physical Education
Studies in sport management, sport history and organizational behavior.
V TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... Ü i
VITA ...... V
LIST OF T A B L E S ...... ix
CHAPTER
I. WOMEN IN S P O R T S ...... 1 Introduction ...... 1 Background of the P r o b l e m ...... 1 Purpose of the S t u d y ...... 3 Need for the S t u d y ...... 3 Conceptual Framework ...... 5 Significance of Study ...... 6 Definitions ...... 8 Assumptions ...... 9 Limitations ...... 10
II. SPORTSWOMEN IN BLACK AND WHITE AMERICA . . . 14 Sport History ...... 14 The Black Female in S p o r t ...... 16 Newspapers...... 2 6 The Coverage of Women in S p o r t ...... 26 Race and Gender in Society ...... 3 3 The Negro P r e s s ...... 3 7
III. METHODOLOGY AND CONTENT ANALYSIS...... 47 Introduction ...... 47 Selection of N e w s p a p e r s ...... 49 Collection of D a t a ...... 50 C o d i n g ...... 51 Units of Assessment of C o n t e n t ...... 52
IV. AN ANALYSIS OF SPORTSWOMEN IN THE SPORT SECTION AND ON THE FRONT P A G E ...... 60 The Extent of Coverage...... 60 The Type of Coverage...... 70 The Style of Coverage ...... 95 Production of the M e d i a ...... 100
vi TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued)
PAGE
V. RECAPTURING THE PAST THROUGH THE NEGRO PRESS: A LOOK BEYOND THE DAILY P R E S S ...... Ill
APPENDICES
A. System for Coding D a t a ...... 12 3
B. Partial Timeline of Major Sporting A c t i v i t i e s ...... 129
LIST OF REFERENCES...... 142
Vll LIST OF TABLES
TABLE PAGE
1. Coverage by issue and designated years for the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender...... 62
2. Coverage by year for the Pittsburgh C o u r i e r ...... 66“
3. Coverage by year for the Chicago Defender...... 68
4. Newspaper items by page location - C o u r i e r ...... 72
5. Newspaper items by page location - Defender...... 74
6. Occurrence of basketball, tennis and track and their share of the total coverage in the Chicago Defender ...... 79
7. Occurrence of basketball, tennis and track and their share of the total coverage in the Pittsburgh Courier ...... 80
8. Orientation for basketball, tennis, golf, bowling, track and management in the Courier and in the D e f e n d e r ...... 87
9. Classification of content for newspaper items in the Courier and the D e f e n d e r ...... 97
V l l l CHAPTER I
WOMEN IN SPORTS
Introduction
During the past twenty-five years, the amount of research on women increased significantly. As the role of women changed during the twentieth century, scholars focused on women, an oppressed group, within a male- oriented society. They examined women in a number of societal roles including business, education, government and the media.^ Both the women's and the feminist's movements contributed to this phenomenon. These movements generated previously unaddressed and unanswered questions.
Although these two movements occurred simultaneously during the twentieth century, their goals differed. The women's movement fought to gain civil and property rights that would provide women greater access to power, while the feminist's movement questioned and examined the status of women in society, politics and the economy.
Background to the Problem
In the past fifteen years, women progressively increased their participation in many areas of sport.
This gradual acceleration of women in sports generated scholarly interest in areas within physical education.
1 2
Exercise scientists and biomechanists studied differences between men and women, while social scientists examined the different meanings and impact sport had for men and women. Within the past decade, sport historians have also expanded their research to include women. This inquiry occurred as a result of the general expansion in the scholarly study of women and the growth of the women's movement.2 This predominately descriptive scholarship generally emphasized the achievement of a few women who attained success. At best, these descriptive-chronological accounts explored the milieu in which the developments of women's involvement in sports took place, but they failed to examine their context and meaning.3
For the most part, scholars have been reluctant to
examine women outside of the mainstream. Historians
assumed that the experiences of the middle-upper class
were representative of all women. However, we now know
that their experience represented only this specific
group. Since the experiences, values and perceptions of
minorities and/or ethnic groups differed from that of the
white middle class, our current knowledge about women in
sport is incomplete. It does not accurately reflect the
history of all women who participated in sport.
Therefore, historians must seek information about the
perceptions of groups outside of the white middle class
toward women competing in sport.^ 3
Purpose of Study
The purpose of this study was to gain greater insight about women's participation in sports. To achieve this goal, coverage of sportswomen in two Negro weekly newspapers, the Pittsburgh Courier from 1924 through 1948 and the Chicago Defender from 1932 to 1948 was analyzed 5
The study examined four factors relating to the amount of coverage given to women: the extent of coverage, the type of coverage, the style of coverage and the production of the media.G
Need for the studv
The history of the sportswoman in America lagged behind other areas of women's studies. To a large extent,
attitudes about sport, the relative infancy of sport history as a field of scholarly inquiry and the methodology shaping the historiography of women has
contributed to this inertia. By describing narrowly
defined sport scenarios, the existing body of knowledge
about women participating in sport and the broader social
implications perpetuated a number of myths. Scholars
examining the relationship of the media and women in sport
have relied almost entirely on the general press as a
primary resource.?
Collectively, these studies highlighted a paradigm
transmitted from one generation to the next about sex role
stereotyping in the sport section. As a result the 4 patterns which emerged are revelent to only a few, the educated middle class female. The media also reflected the belief that sporting activities of women were insignificant. Often women were excluded from the sport pages. When included, the length and the frequency of coverage were minimal and the writer generally reported activities such as golf, swimming and tennis, which confirmed and reinforced the traditional feminine images of women. Frequently, these stories also focused on gender roles rather than the female's athletic ability.®
Only a few scholars have relied on Negro newspapers to examine the black perspective in sports.® However, like other writings in sports history, these books ignored the role of women in the black community and the meaning of sports for women. Gerda Lerner has raised a crucial question about the history of women which is applicable to the study of racial and minority papers. Lerner proposed the following questions:
Was the oppression of women universal, that is, did it go across class and race lines? Did women of different racial groups have the same history or was there a difference?^®
Restated for this study, what would the sporting
experience of women be like if examined through the eyes
of Negroes and ordered by values that they defined?
Research on the black sportswoman has been ignored or
given only "token" attention in historical surveys of
American sports, even though the literature on the black 5 male athlete has grown in recent years.This inattention and disregard of the female black athlete reflects a "built-in distortion" in the white culture. It flows from the fact that our understanding of attitudes toward women's participation has emerged largely from the interpretation of the dominant group, which happens to be male and w h i t e . certainly, the identity of the black sportswoman as both a woman and a minority in a white male-oriented society contributed to this neglect in
sports. Not only do we need to examine the history of the black female in sports, but more importantly we also need
to study sportswomen from a perspective outside of the mainstream.
Conceptual Framework
Very few scholars have studied systematically how
society as a whole, and its constituent subgroups,
perceived the participation of women in sport. It is not
surprising, therefore, that they have given even less
attention to the black sportswomen. The plight of the
black female athlete is an extreme but inclusive example
of the recognition given to women in sports. The presence
of sexism and racism in society and sports was the first
and most obvious reason for the omission of black sports
women.13 The roles and contributions of blacks and women
were relatively unexplored in history until the civil
rights movement and the women's movement during the I960's and 1970’s. Second, scholars examined evidence and
resources that contained racist and sexist biases.
Historians assumed that the sporting experience of the
educated white female was representative of all women.
Edwin Henderson's The Negro in Sports was a prime example
of a work which has been repeatedly cited by those documenting activities of the black sportswomen.^4
Unknowingly, his narration of the black sportswomen
unveiled racial differences that scholars should have
challenged about his generalizations from the white
sportswoman applied to her black counterpart.
A third possibility is that little or no evidence
exists which documented the sporting experience of black
athletes. Only a few scholars have taken advantage of the
Negro Press and its wealth of information. Unlike the
national press, the Negro Press reported news and
occurrences relevant to and within the black community.
Significance of the Studv
This study differed from the current historical
scholarship on women in sports in both focus and method.
The existing body of knowledge about women's participation
in athletics has been based on evidence found in amateur
and collegiate records, personal interviews, newspapers,
general interest magazines and the literature of the
health and fitness professions. The utilization of the
Negro Press as a primary source allows scholars to move 7 beyond understanding the experience of sportswomen merely from a white perspective. Generally, historians of sport have not used social science techniques. An application of content analysis to newspapers over a continuous and prolonged period was one of the first attempts to create a more realistic means of assessing popular attitudes toward women's involvement in sports.^®
An examination of these Negro papers also provided a means of assessing the sporting activities of women between 1924 and 1948. Reading every issue of each
newspaper provides a more comprehensive view of attitudes
towards women's involvement in sport during the period.
This time frame represented periods of controversy, growth
and decline in women's participation in competitive sports
as we know and interpret women in sport history. During
the twentieth century women were perceived as the weaker
sex. Societal attitudes limited women's participation in
sports to "aesthetically pleasing" activities such as
gymnastics, swimming, skating and tennis. Women were
still expected to be passive and less physically active
than men. Some women participated in "competitive"
athletics, but their numbers were small. Often these
women athletes were stereotyped as Amazons, and society
perceived them as deviants.
The daily press and the scholarly research asserted
that conflict existed over the governance of women's 8 competition as well as the nature of the competition during the period. By 1923, the Amateur Athletic Union
(AAU) sponsored competition for all women's sports in the
United States, despite opposition from female physical educators. A rival group. The Federation Sportive
Feminine Internationale fF.S.F.IK sponsored a series of
Women's Olympic Games every four years from 1922 to 1934 to provide more events for women participants. By 1924, the International Amateur Athletic Federation (I.A.A.F.) took over the governance of women's sports
internationally, but the I.A,A.F did not add women's track
and field to the Olympic Games until 1928.18 The post-World War II period, marked the end of this study.
Following this war, the number of participants and the
number of sporting events as well as the skill levels of
the women athletes increased in the Olympic Games.
Definitions
The following operational definitions were
established for the study:
foldline the midline which divides the paper into an upper half and a lower half when the paper is doubled or folded horizontally.
newspaper refers collectively to the three types of items news coverage: newspaper items, illustrations and photographs occurring in the paper.
news items refers to the various stories appearing in the paper. It includes the following categories: articles without an identifying label above the foldline; articles without an identifying label below the foldline; editorials, by-lines; columns designated for a specific sport; repeating columns; wire services; and wire services with a by-line. editorial news items that expresses the opinion of the specific individual or the editor of the newspaper. by-line a news item appearing with the writer's name of a staff writer or other person identified as the author.
repeating a new column that appears regularly column written by the editor or staff writer, excluding those designated for a specific sport.
wire service a story originating from the Associated Negro Press (ANP) or other services that provide news items to the paper.
period refers to the twenty five year period read in the Courier. 1924 - 1948.
subperiod refers to the seventeen years which the Courier and the Defender overlapped, 1932- 1948.
Assumptions
For the purpose of this study the following
assumptions were made:
1) Considering that newspapers depend on circulation and subscriptions, we can not ignore the fact that they do more than reflect the news.
2) The presence of sport stories and commentary in the newspaper indicates more than the sporting activities of the athletes. It reflects the attitudes of the writer, the editor and public opinion, as well as the sporting opportunities available.
3) The attitudes of blacks toward women in sports would apply to all women. 10
since whites and other racial groups were included when blacks were involved in the activity.
Limitations
1) The investigator restricted the study to the coverage of sports to women only rather than a comparison between men and women.
2) The investigator treated Negroes and women as monolithic groups to avoid difference associated with race and class.
3) Limited time and resources restricted analysis of the Chicago paper to the years 1932-1948 11
ENDNOTES
1. For a general history of American women, see William H. Chafe, Women and Equality; Changing Patterns in American Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977); Barbara Deckard, The Women's Movement (New York: Harper and Row, 1975); Patricia A. Graham, ed.. Women in Higher Education (Washington, D. C.: American Council of Higher Education, 1974) ; Gerda Lerner, The Woman in American History (Reading, i-lA: Addison-Wesiey, 1971); idem.. The Majority Finds Its Past: Placing Women in History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979); idem., Black Women in White America: A Documentary History (New York: Random House, 1973); idem.. The Female Experience: An American Documentary (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1977); Mary P. Ryan, ed., Womanhood in America : From Colonial Times to the Present (New York: Franklin- Watts, 3rd ed., 1983).; Leslie J. Friedman, A Sex Role Stereotyping in the Mass Media: An Annotated Bibliography (New York: Garland Publishing, 1977); Cynthia Harrison, ed.. Women in American History: A Bibliography (Santa Barbara, CA: G. K. Hall & Co., 1978); Gay Tuchman, et. al., eds. Hearth and Home; Images of Women in the Mass Media (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978).
2. For more information on women in sport, see Ellen W. Gerber, Jan Felshin, Pearl Berlin, and Waneen Wyrick, The American Woman in Sport (Reading, MA: Addison- Wesiey, 1974); Reet Howell, ed., Her Story in Sport; A Historical Anthology of Women in Sport (West Point, NY: Leisure Press, 1982); Stephanie Twin, ed., Out of the Bleachers: Writings on Women in Sport (Old Westbury, NY: The Feminist Press, 1979) ; Mary A. Boutilier and Lucinda SanGiovanni, The Sporting Woman (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers, 1983).
3. For difference between context and mileau see, Nancy L. Struna, ”E. P. Thompson's Notion of 'Context' and the Writing of Physical Education and Sport History," Quest. 38 (1986): 22-32.
4. Nancy L. Struna, "Beyond Mapping Experience: The Need for Understanding in the History of American Sporting Woman," Journal of Sport History. 11 (Spring 1984): 120-133; Boutilier and SanGiovanni, Sporting Woman. 118; Howell, ed., Her Story. 164. 12
5. Due to the abundance of material on women in Defender compounded by both cost and time, the years 1924 through 1931 were excluded. These years will be examined in the future following the completion of the dissertation.
6. See, Boutilier and SanGiovanni, Sporting Woman. for additional information on categories and previous research.
7. For studies on sportswomen in the media, see Jan Rintala and Susan Birrell, "Fair Treatment for the Active Female; A Content Analysis of Young Athlete Magazine," Sociology of Sport Journal. 1(1984): 231- 250; James Bryant, "A Two-Year Selective Investiga tion of the Female, in Sports as Reported in the Paper Media," Arena Review. 4 (May, 1980): 32-44; Susan H. Miller, "The Content of News Photos: Women's and Men's Roles," Journalism Quarterly. 52(1975): 70-75; Dan C. Hilliard, "Media Images of Male and Female Professional Athletes: An Interpretive Analysis of Magazine Articles,'' Sociology of Sport Journal 1(1984): 251-262; Yvonne LaBelle Slatton, "The Role of Women as Depicted Through Advertising in Selected Magazines, 1900-1968," (Unpublished Ph.D. disserta tion, University of Iowa, 1970). Also see, Janet Lever and Stanton Wheeler, "The Chicago Tribune Sports Page, 1900-1975," Sociology of Sport Journal. 1 (1984): 309.
8. Bryant, "Two -Year Selective Investigation," 32-44.
9. See, Rob Ruck, Sandlots Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987) ; Jules Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983); and, David Wiggins "The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin: The Response of the Black Press," Research QuarterIv for Experience and Sport. 54 (1983), 278-292.
10. Lerner, The Majority Finds Its Past, xxviii.
11. For surveys on sport history, see John Allen Krout, Annals of American Sport (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929); Foster Rhea Dulles, America Learns to Plav: A History of Recreation (New York: D. Appleton-Century Company, 1940); John A. Lucas and Ronald A. Smith, Saga of American Sport (Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger, 1978) ; Benjamin Rader, American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Spectators (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 13
Prentice-Hall, 1983).
12. Lerner, Majority Finds Its Past. 160.
13. For historiographies on American sports, see Melvin L. Adelman, "Academicians and Athletics; Historians Views of American Sport," Maryland Historian. 4 (Fall 1973): 123-34; idem., "Academicians and American Athletics: A Decade of Progress," Journal of Sport History. 10 (Spring 1983):80-106; Benjamin Rader, "Modern Sports: In Search of Interpretations," Journal of Social History. 13 (1979): 307-21; Allen Guttmann, "Commentary: Who's on First? or Books on the History of American Sports," Journal of American History. 66 (1979): 348-54; Stephen Hardy, "The City and the Rise of American Sport; 1820-1920," Exercise and Sports Sciences Reviews. 9 (1981) : 183- 210; David K. Wiggins, "Clio and the Black Athlete in America: Myths, Heroes and Realities," Quest. 32 (1980): 217-25; and Nancy L. Struna, "In 'Glorious Disarray': The Literature of American Sport History," Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 56 (1985): 151-160.
14. Edwin Henderson, The Negro in Sports, rev. ed., (Washington, D.C.: The Associated Publishers, 1949).
15. Adelman, "Academicians and American Athletics," 97-98.
16. Several scholars have studied the media and women in sports, but the duration of the study was intermit tent rather than continuous during the period examined. See, Rintala and Birrell, "Fair Treatment," 238; Miller, "News Photos," 70; Bryant, "Paper Media," 36; Hilliard, "Media Image," 252. Also see Boutilier and SanGiovanni, Sporting Woman. 183-218.
17. Joanna Davenport, "Eleonara Randolph Sears," Notable American Women: The Modern Period, eds. Barbara Sicherman, et. al., (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1980): 638-39; Laura Robincheaux, "An Analysis of Attitudes Towards Women Athletics in the United States in the Early Twentieth Century," Canadian Journal of the History of Sport and Physical Education. 6 (May 1975), 12-22; Struna, "Mapping Experience," 131; Lerner, The Majority Finds Its Past. 149-150.
18. Gerber, et. al., American Women, pp. 136-153. CHAPTER II
SPORTSWOMEN IN BLACK AND WHITE AMERICA
The historiography of sport in American society is noted for a shift from narration to analysis and a sharpening focus on unique subcultures, classes, races and other subsets of society as well as a broadening definition of what sport meant at a given point in time.
History of American women in sports consistently affirmed that proportionately only a few women participated in sports; that gender role stereotyping limited women's
involvement; and that societal attitudes perceived
competition by women less favorably than men's.l This
chapter focused primarily on the historiography of women
in sports and pertinent scholarship about the sportswomen
in the printed media. The literature for these specific
areas were reviewed: 1) women's sport history; 2) the
black sportswoman; 3) the sport pages; 4) race and gender
in society; and, 5) the Negro Press.
Sport History
The historiography of women in sport has been
predominately descriptive-chronological accounts of the
sporting experience has focused on the participation of a
14 15 few exceptional women such as Gertrude Ederle, Helen
Wills, Eleonara Sears, and Mildred "Babe" Didrickson. The existing body of knowledge alleged that women participation in competitive athletics was viewed less faborably than participation among men and it was limited to a few elite women athletes. Women competing during the twentieth century were perceived as deviants by society rather than the norm. In recent years, sport historians have depicted these women as heroines using male models as the standard for evaluation.2
For the most part, scholars have ignored the activities of women outside of the educated, middle-upper class. Reet Howell noted these studies "concentrated on the upper class and, thus, those such as the poor, the blacks, French Canadians and so on have not been considered."3 The history of a minority group within women's sports seldom has been examined even though
several scholars pointed out that differences in life
styles, values and working habits exist. Boutilier and
SanGiovanni acknowledged this fact; they stated "women who
are members of an oppressed racial or ethnic group, who
are poor, women who are powerless, rural women, and older
women, . . . do not necessarily adhere to or value the
dominant image of the acceptable woman in our society."4
Yet, their own work failed to explore these differences
and issues. In 1984 Nancy Struna who critiqued the 16 current literature on the historical study of sport
concurred. She recommended these areas for future
examination groups outside of the mainstream and a closer
look at why people became involved in sports in varying
degrees and their motives for participating.5
The Black Female in Sports
In recent years, the literature on the black male
athlete has grown, however research on the black
sportwoman has been ignored or only given "token"
attention in historical surveys of American sports.® The
absence of the sporting activities of the black female
athlete and the continuation of 'token' acknowledgements,
written and interpreted primarily from a white
perspective, has inhibited the creation of comprehensive
generalization about women in sports. Not only did it
neglect the sporting activities of the black female, but
more importantly it failed to depict how blacks perceive
women participating in sport. This void paralleled Gerda
Lerner's "built-in distortion" which is still evident in
women's history. This "built-in distortion" strongly
asserts that the person or group transmitting the past
intertwine their own beliefs and values into the story
retold. Lerner revealed that "how we see and interpret
what we know about women has been shaped for us through a
value system defined by men. 17
Kathleen McCrone disclosed another problem common within research among women. She declared that "histori ans of women have virtually ignored the physical dimensions of the struggle for female emancipation, while historians of sports have reflected sport's traditional male orientation by neglecting the distaff side."®
Clearly, the values of the dominant group influenced and determined not only the roles of women but the absence and presence of their activities in publications.
Concurrently, the scholarship on the women in sports represents only the experience of the educated white
female. As Harry Edwards, a black sociologist implied, the attitudes toward the sportswoman may be reversed in a
culture where there is less differentiation between the male and female roles.9 Thus the examination of other
subgroups such as Negroes is essential to obtain a more
realistic picture of American women studies in sports.
Only a few scholars have examined the black-
sportwomen. Frequently many started with the wrong
premise which led to flaws in the conclusion because they
failed to examine the sporting experience in its context.
Mostly descriptive, the meager literature on the black
sportswomen derived its foundation from the ideology that
gender roles restricted the participation of the sports
women. These narratives documented the participation and
accomplishments of a few elite women primarily in one 18 sport, track and field.Frequently, historians depicted the struggles and achievements of Wilma Rudolph in track and Althea Gibson in tennis as the typical black sports woman. The sporting experiences of Rudolph and Gibson illustrate each battle to compete with whites and to gain recognition from whites— rather than the sporting exper ience of black women within their own culture. Althea
Gibson, the most outstanding black tennis player in history, acquired her beginning and development in Negro tennis tournaments sponsored by the American Tennis
Association. Althea did not perceive herself as a Negro
champion even though society viewed her as a model for
Negroes. Gibson once commented that she perceived herself
as a tennis player and that she "never set herself up as a
champion of the Negro race.
The lack of information on the sporting experience of
the female in the black community and the generalization
from the ideology of whites leads to discrepancies,
stereotypes, and contradictions in the scarce writings on
the black female athlete. The sporting activities of the
black women prior to Gibson's triumph at Wimbledon in 1957
and Rudolph's sweep of three gold medals at the 1960
Olympic games remain obscure and unknown. Only two
surveys have been written and devoted exclusively to the
black sportswoman.12 Even though the primary emphasis of
these works was not historical, they provide an overview 19 of the achievements of athletes during the past two decades.
Black Women in Snort contained a collection of monographs. Focusing on athletes and administrators in the late 1970's, and the two most distinguished black sport heroines, Wilma Rudolph and Althea Gibson were included. This work focused primarily on recent athletes and the outlook of the future rather than the history of black women in sport. The authors also examined obstacles which prevented greater participation of black women in sports and the extent to which these obstacles limited opportunities for participation in sports.
A 23 minute film accompanied the second book, Kenneth
Bentley's Going for the Gold...The Storv of Black Women in
Sport. Bentley provided biographical sketches of elite black female athletes in such as Wilma Rudolph, Wyomia
Tyus, Jeanette Bolden, the Howard sisters and Carol Lewis
in track; Pam and Paula McGee, Cheryl Miller and La Taunya
Pollard in basketball; Leslie Allen and Zina Garrison in
tennis and a "lone black stars" in the sport of volley
ball, gymnastics and equestrianism. His work featured
mostly national champions, Olympians and potential Olympi
ans for 1984 Games who lived or trained primarily on the
West Coast. Several prominent national champions and
Olympians as well as American or World Record holders from
the Midwest and East were omitted.13 These athletes and 20 many others of the late 1970's and early 1980's served as role models for aspiring teenagers wishing to compete in the Olympics or attend college on an athletic scholarship.
Bentley also provided information about training and nutrition.14
Edwin Henderson, the first person to write a comprehensive book on Black athletes, devoted a single chapter exclusively to women. In his chapter, "Negro
Girls in Sports", he sketched a brief history primarily about prominent athletes and teams. He noted the success of Tuskegee Institute girls in track and field and the
Philadelphia Tribune Girls in basketball. Since Jim Crow laws banned competition of blacks with whites, Negroes formed and sponsored their own leagues and tournaments.15
Nevertheless, Henderson's explanation for the limited participation by Negroes coincided that of the white
female.
Negro women had for some time been active in athletic sports. Hampered by tradition and long skirts, only a few games were open to the other sex for many years. A lady might ride side-saddle, play croquet, and bathe in cumbersome dress at the seaside; she could not don the stream-line attire of the modern girl athlete nor compete in the presence of men.16
Despite the traditions and barriers encountered by
the white female which discouraged participation in
competitive games and especially activities featuring
strength and force, these activities were acceptable for
the black sportswomen. Scholars perceived the black 21 sportswomen as having greater freedom in the selection of
sporting activities. The white sportswoman was limited to
activities that enhance femininity through graceful movement such as tennis, golf and swimming. The
literature on the American sportswomen reported that
blacks rarely participated in activities. On the other
hand, Hendersons account of Negro sport women during the
first half of the twentieth century portrayed black women
competing in the same sporting events as white women. In
addition to track and field, she participated in numerous
sports including basketball, softball, bowling, soccer,
fencing, badminton, swimming, tennis and golf.l? Hender
son also summarized the achievements of some key indivi
duals in swimming and the prestige sports such as golf and
tennis.
Henderson supported athletics on a broader and more
competitive level for highly skilled female and encouraged
praise and recognition for their achievements. He also
suggested that strong black women were acceptable in the
black community and that her success on the national level
in sports should be acclaimed.His support of
competitive athletics conflicts with the philosophy and
platform of Women's Division of the National Amateur
Athletic Federation which was composed mostly of women
physical educators.Thus he alluded to a more favorable
environment for the sportswomen in the black community. 22
Similar discrepancies and gaps appear in other works reporting about the black female in sports. In 1963, A.S.
"Doc" Young's Negro Firsts in Sports was published. Like
Henderson's book, his work contained records and roster of
Tuskegee Institute Women's Track and Field Team achievements prior to the 1940's. Even though Young mentioned Joe Robichaux of the Chicago Catholic Youth
Organization and Edward Temple of Tennessee State
University, who were two outstanding coaches of female
athletes, he failed to provide either a comprehensive or
detailed summary of sportswomen between 1940 and 1960.
Young's work clearly demonstrated that a woman needs to be
more than an elite athlete to be recognized among sport
heroes. However, Wilma Rudolph's success at the Olympic
Games in Rome earned her a place on Young's list of Negro
"super stars." Not only was Rudolph the only female among
the seven athletes named, but she was the only track and
field athlete. In Young's opinion her achievement
surpassed those of the legendary Jesse Owens during the
Berlin Olympic Games. According to Young, Wilma
"glamorized" the sport of track and field.
One recent work edited by Marianna W. Davis
identified the multiple roles and contributions of the
black female in society also explored her achievements in
sports. Unfortunately, with the exception of the
timelines for tennis and track, this study produced little 23 or no new information than earlier writings. Davis' edited work examines five different sporting themes: The
Sport Scene; Tennis: The Sports of Aces: Track and
Field: The Strongest Suit; Of Team Sports: Playing Games
Together and Solo Performers. Slightly more than 47 percent (72 of 153) of the citations were from the afore mentioned materials of Gerber, Henderson, Young, and a dissertation comparing the track programs at Tuskegee
Institute and Tennessee State University. In essence, the manuscript edited by Davis simply aggregated these earlier works.21 He relied mostly on the work of Gerber for the historical foundation and Henderson's work for substance,
Davis neglected to integrate scholarship on blacks from sociology into the work. As a result, she ignored differences between the cultures that Henderson unveiled.
These differences included women using boy's rules for basketball, a more favorable climate for competitive sport for women in the black community and the supportive coverage provided through the newspapers of Tuskegee and other black sportswomen achievements in the national track and field championships between 1936 and 1942.
Davis' work merely reproduced a pattern that portrays a strong sporting heritage, but fails to acknowledge either the rejection or approval of competitive athletics for the sportswomen. Work such as Davis' reveals that writings in sport history on either blacks or women 24 require that the writer first and foremost be a trained historian. When writing about the experience of an oppressed groups such as blacks in sports, Wiggins noted that the subject matter requires someone with "proper academic training," a sincere interest in the truth and
"genuinely enthusiastic about the subject."22
In many respects the black sportswoman's experience resembled that of the male in the black community.
Excluded from competition with whites, she participated in leagues established for black. Some colored women's teams
such as the Philadelphia Tribune Girls played by men's
rules in basketball, whereas most women's teams competed using modified rules that required six players rather than
five. The experience of the black female athlete in
basketball more closely resembles that of the males rather
than her counterpart in the dominant society. Lerner
wrote that "women are more closely allied to men of their
own group than they are to women of other classes and
races."23 Womens obligation to race ethnicity
superimposed other factors such as gender and class.
Nancy Struna, a prominent sports historian, has urged her
colleagues to do "considerably more research about the
sporting styles of rural, small town, and urban working
women," since these women may have been free from the
"predominantly urban middle class image of the "proper"
sportswomen."24 Although Struna primarily identified the 25 working class women and immigrants as groups for future research, the attitudes of the black community should also be examined.
For the most part, the scholarship on women in sports has been written and interpreted from the perspective of the dominant group, white men, rather than the specific group being examined. The marginal treatment of blacks and other ethnic and minority groups in the history of women creates a gap in understanding the sporting experience of females. The current history of women in sports ignores the experience of women who did not emerge as "heroes" nor those who were not among the white, middle class. Both gender roles and sporting activities of women within
racial and ethnic groups remain to be studied.
Newspapers
Both print and broadcast media have played
significant roles in the development of sport. Newspapers
have long been an advocate for sports. The press encour
aged participation in sports in order to develop and to
promote health, morality and character. Newspapers also
serve as a catalyst to establish and to reinforce the
prevalent values, beliefs and ideas held in society. Mass
media has the potential to initiate change but, generally
seeks to maintain the "status quo," because it represents
the view of its constituents, the dominant class which is
in control.25 its omission and inclusion of news coverage 26 about women and blacks, reflects the opinion of society toward these entities, as well as their "perceived" role in sports. The national press defined the roles of women as secondary and p a s s i v e^6 . Negroes were either completely ignored or portrayed as criminals in news.27
The images and stories in the sport section also reflected these social attitudes and values toward both women and blacks.
The coverage of women in sports
Not surprisingly, coverage of the women in the sports
section remains limited, since sports has been perceived
as a male-defined area. A few scholars have compared the
coverage of women and men, while others have examined the
images of women in the media as it relates to sports.
Boutilier and SanGiovanni identified similar patterns in
the research on the media and women in sports for these
four variables: the extent of coverage; the type of
coverage; the style of coverage and the production of
media. They reported that the media consistently provides
less coverage to women than men in sports.2^
Other scholars formulated similar conclusions. Susan
Miller's examination of photographs in every eighth issue
of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post between
July 2, 1973 and June 27, 1974, revealed that the media
portrays women in traditional roles as spouse and
"socialites," The lifestyle section prevailed as the only 27 area in both papers that women outnumbered men. Males dominated the photograph coverage of both papers in these sections; the front page, business, entertainment and sport. The presence of a photograph is essential, since it serves as a visual image to attract the attention of the reader. Frequently a picture may be used to supplement the content of a story. Pictures and sports represented the greatest variance and entertainment, the lease among the section studied. The Post pictures of women accounted for only six percent of the sport photos, while the Times featured slightly more, 10 percent.
Miller concluded that sports unlike other sections of the paper has been the last section to acknowledge the participation of women.
In a historical analysis of literature available on sports and the media, Greendorfer stated that the relationship between sports and the mass media is one of mutual interdependence and reciprocal.^ ® Lever and
Wheeler provided empirical evidence that the number of sport pages in the Chicago Tribune increased as sports grew between 1900 and 1975. However, the coverage overwhelmingly reported activities of men and a corresponding increase in the percentage of stories on women failed to evolve over the period. Stories devoted
exclusively to women were rare: 1.2% in 1900; 4.0% in both 1925 and 1950 and only 4.1% in 1975. Surprisingly, 28 the women's movement and the passage of Title IX in 1972
failed to generate an increase in the percentage of the
Tribune total coverage awarded to women. A comparison of
the stories reported in 1925, 1950 and 1975 showed decline
occurred in the actual number of articles appearing in
1975.31
Slatton's dissertation analyzed the role of women in
advertising between 1900 and 1968 in five magazines, and
confirmed that attitudes about women in sports remain
unchanged. Less than one percent of the advertisements
featured the sportswomen. When present, these ads
illustrated women in recreational rather than competitive
settings and featured socially approved sports such as
golf, tennis, swimming, skiing and equestrian events.32
Rintala and Birrell's analysis of the actual participation
by sex and stories in the Young Athlete produced similar
findings. The coverage reinforced the image of sport as
male-centered and distorted girls involvement in sports.
Less than half of sports photos were of women. Even
though the number of high school girls participating in
basketball, volleyball and women exceeded boys, the photo
graphs of team sports failed to reflect this dominance.33
An examination of two local newspapers, Denver Post
and Rockv Mountain News, and four popular sports
magazines, produced similar findings about the impact of
Title IX on the coverage of women in sports. Bryant 29 concluded that the media neither promoted nor encouraged a positive attitude toward women in sports. At best the coverage of women was neutral. The number of articles on women were minimal in length and frequency, located on the back pages of the sport section and contained some sexist remarks. Although he compared coverage of men, women and co-ed activities, the time period was limited. He only examined two newspapers for four days each between 1979 and 1980.34
Hilliard's work on professional tennis players between June 1979 and September 1983 in several general
sports magazines, a tennis publication, as well as weekly
and popular magazines supported earlier findings about the
images of women. Magazine articles on the female
professional player focused on social and personal lives
of players. Articles depicted both men and women athletes
as imperfect, "the status of females overrides the status of athlete".35
In summary, women were frequently excluded in papers
and magazines in the dominant culture. When included,
they consistently received less coverage than that given
to men and both the length and the frequency of coverage
has been minimal. Generally, these papers focused on
gender roles rather than the female's ability as an
athlete. The media fostered the belief that only a few
elite women athletes participated and their sporting 30 activities were insignificant. Often writers reported sporting activities such as tennis, golf and swimming which confirmed and reinforced the traditional feminine images of women.
Carol Rupp, like Boutilier and SanGiovanni strongly- recommended the hiring of more female sportswriters to
eliminate this bias in reporting.Women alone will not
increase the coverage of women in the media. Theberge and
Cronk concluded that the structure of sport pages, the
utilization of wire services and the assignment of beat
recorders contribute to the absence of sportwomen.^? If
the reporting of womens sporting activities is to become
more visible in the media, the public must demand more
accountability. Sports editors must be encouraged to
assign these reporters to womens athletics, recreational
sports, and other popular activities which generally have
been neglected due to the emphasis of commercial sports.
The Coverage of Blacks in Sports
Blacks also received biased coverage in the national
press. While examining the coverage of football and
basketball at the University of Maryland and Howard
University, a predominantly black institution, Braddock
provided empirical data that proved the white institution,
Maryland, received greater coverage and better placement
of stories than Howard. More importantly, the black
athletes at the University of Maryland received more than 31 double the amount of unfavorable coverage when compared to their white teammates. Frequently the press praised and glorified the white athlete when it was the black teammace who contributed significantly to win n i n g . 38
With the exception of a few scholars studying sports,
the Negro Press seldom has been used as a primary source
to examine the attitudes and activities of b l a c k s . 3 9
Wiggins wrote two articles on major historical events, the
Berlin Olympic Games and the integration of Negroes into
the major leagues. Whereas many scholars and sports
writers in the national press publicized Branch Rickey's
role in removing racial barriers in baseball, Wiggins
reported that the Pittsburgh Courier-Journal and several
other Negro newspapers began a campaign for the integra
tion of blacks into the major leagues, during the 1930's.
Wiggins claimed that Wendell Smith, a persistent black
sportswriter of the Courier-Journal. played an influential
role in breaking the colorline in baseball. Smith kept
the issues in the forefront in the black press and in the
eyes of key white officials in baseball such as the
commissioner, club owners, team managers. In fact, he
recommended Jackie Robinson to Rickey as the "ideal" black
player to compete in white organized base b a l l . 40
From a social point of view, the 1936 Olympic Games
heighten the awareness of racial injustice worldwide and
to a lesser extent the prejudice in America as well. 32
Jesse Owens, a black man, became "the American hero" capturing four Olympic medals. Although the black press praised the accomplishments of Owens and other athletes, it did not proclaim athletics as the only possible avenue for success and equality.Instead it wanted to improve the conditions in the black community and within society as a whole by urging blacks and youth to emulate the
Owens' as they strived for success in all fields of endeavors.
Wiggins illustrated that neither blacks nor the Negro
Press were passive during either the 1936 Games or the campaign to integrate organized baseball. The Games' most significant contribution as Wiggens noted was the Negro
Press' ability to capitalize on the success of the black athletes to "heighten racial pride in the black community."^2 ge provided insight into how blacks perceived these happenings and the role of the Negro press played in initiating actions among blacks and whites.
Both articles provided a more realistic picture about the
event and its ramifications in the Negro community, as
well as the integrating blacks into the history of sport.
Race and gender in society
Scholars agree that both women and blacks are
perceived and treated differently from the white male in
society. Mary McLeod Bethune revealed that "it seems
almost paradoxical, but nevertheless true, that the 33 history of women and the history of Negroes are, in the essential features of their struggle for status, quite parallel. She added, "they both inherited from the long past a traditional status which has restricted not only their activities, but their thinking with reference to the rest of life and with reference to themselves."43 This is a fact that we can no longer denied. Gunnar Myrdal's book, An American Dilemma; The Negro Problem and Modern
Democracy. published in 1944 also uttered this theme.
While referring to women and children, he wrote that "at least two groups of people, besides the Negroes, . . . are characterized by high social visibility expressed in physical appearance, dress, and patterns of behavior, and who have been "suppressed." Their present status, as well as their history and their problems in society, reveal striking similarities to those of the N e g r o e s . "44
Like other institutions in society, sports also is a male-dominated area reflecting the experiences and the values of the prevalent group, white males. Lumpkin
reveals that blacks and females faced obstacles and shared
similar experiences in their quest for athletic equality.
She wrote:
1) Initially both blacks and women were excluded due to written restrictions and social attitudes;
2) Both blacks and women sponsored their own leagues and competitions ;
3) With the passage of federal legislation, both blacks and women have become a part of "established" sports, 34
but societal attitudes toward these groups have been slow to change;
4) As a result, much more still needs to be done for these groups to achieve equality and acceptance in sports.45
Therefore, black women encountered similar patterns of oppression and discrimination also exist in sporting arenas. These patterns complicated the role of the black sportswoman who has "two-strikes" against her - race and gender.
Wilbert Leonard, a sociologist, declared "the experi ence of being a women in society is not the same for all women," since economical and racial stratification
affected gender differences. He credited three social
factors for differences in sporting activities of the white female's counterpart in the black community. Overt
racism barred black women from participating with white
women and the black females lack of economical support
limited her opportunities. She could not afford private
lessons for golf and tennis. Probably the most signifi
cantly factor, accounting for this difference among women,
was the cultural image of femininity which has been
prescribed for white women.
"Pale" might have been an approved image for the woman in America, but the referent was clearly the white woman. Black women could not be pale, rosy- cheeked, or really feminine, just as the Victorian medical definition of the innately, fragile woman applied to the middle class, not the immigrants "racial hordes." Black women often formed the vanguard of those individuals who broke new sports 35
ground for women in general, but only because a racist culture did not define them as "real w o m e n . "46
The definition of femininity within the white, middle- upper class was not intended to apply to blacks nor any other ethnic or racial groups. M. Marie Hart also suggested that being female does not equate with
"feminine" and varied for groups outside of the mainstream. She wrote:
Being female in this culture does not necessarily mean that one is perceived or accepted as "feminine." Each culture has its social norm and sex roles within which one must live, but in the United States this definition seems especially rigid and narrow. For longer than one can remember, women in sport have known and^experienced rejection due to their failure to live up to a particular concept of "feminine."4?
Again, this definition of femininity applied to the white female.
The experience of the black female in society, and particularly in sports, has been different from that of her white counterpart. First and foremost, the emphasis on gender and femininity was different in the black
community. Lerner explained that "black women always
defined themselves first and foremost as members of an
oppressed race, feeling their oppression as members of
that race more keenly than their oppression as w o m e n . "48
Second, the participation of black female athletes was not
only acceptable, but these women received recognition and
praise for their success in athletics. 36
Hart maintained that the role for women in the black community differed from the white female. Unlike
Henderson, Hart contended that the black sportwoman had more freedom in sporting activities and she received recognition for her sporting accomplishments. Hart remarked that the black female "can be strong and achieve in sport and still not deny her womanness. The black woman seems to have more freedom to mix her involvement in sport and dance without the conflict expressed by many white women athletes."49 Henderson introduction to the chapter on women's athletics supported Harts statement.
He wrote:
. . . the athletic world was just beginning to become accustomed to the onslaught of male Negro athletes on the records and to Negro champions in sport when up from the deep South came Tuskegee's track and field girls to win the national Amateur Athletic Union women's track and field championship. It is conservative to say that the press dispatches created a sensation.50
Henderson included several news clippings about the
Tuskegee team in his book. These clippings focused primarily on the athletic achievements of the individual and the performance of the team. As stated earlier, the
experience of black sportswomen appeared more similar to
that of the black male than that of the white female.
Since both blacks and women shared similar
experiences in both society and sports, some factor other
than gender must have contributed to the failure to accept
blacks, particularly men. If gender roles were not the 37 primary source of discrimination for blacks within
society, blacks may have perceived the roles of women,
differently. Wiggins' examination of the attitudes of
blacks during the 1936 Olympic Games and the integration
of blacks into organized baseball demonstrated that the
Negro Press would be an invaluable sources to study the
involvement of women in sports. The national press
depicted both the sportswoman and the black sportsman as
"second class" citizens.
The Negro Press
The Negro Press has been and is an important element
of Black American culture throughout the nineteenth and
twentieth century. According to Mydra1, the development
of the Negro Press closely paralled two interrelated
trends, the increasing protest against racial discrimi
nation and the growing number of educated Negroes in
society. The first Negro newspaper. Freedom's Journal.
was started by John B. Russwurm and Samuel E. Cornish in
1827. The Negro Press is, and has been recognized as one
of the most influential institutions in the black
community. As its name implies, the Chicago Defender
perceived itself first and foremost role as a "defender"
for the advancement of the Negroes.51 In Myrdal's opinion
the Negro Press "defines the Negro group to the Negroes themselves."52 38
Frequently, its image and role as a "fighting" press advocating the rights of blacks has led to many myths and stereotypes. Generally, whites have perceived its coverage as limited to blacks, as anti-American and read only by blacks. These generalizations are erroneous. The
Negro Press evolved because the white press did not, or could not, fulfill the needs of blacks.53 When the national press contained stories about blacks, it depicted them in crimes of violence, especially against whites. It neglected to publicize news of their achievements and accomplishments. Blacks yearned to be Americans and they want their stories told. Frederick Detweiler wrote that throughout the Negro Press "flows an undercurrent of feeling that race considers itself a part of America and yet has no voice in the American newspaper." He added that "members of this group want to learn about each other, they want the stories of their success, conflicts,
and issues told, and they want to express themselves in public."54
Since the press plays a major role in establishing
and perpetuating images and existing stereotypes, the
Negro Press reflects the attitudes and values of blacks in
society, as it reported the activities and achievements of
Negroes. Although the Negro Press provided coverage of a
neglected minority in American society, it also reported
news stories about whites that had racial significance. 39
Stories about whites and ethnic groups were reported when they related to or included blacks. Therefore, this study examined the attitudes of Negroes toward women in sports, rather than the black female athlete, specifically.
Both the Negro and daily newspapers, published news about local, state and national occurrences.
Nevertheless, the Negro Press operated in an environment that openly practiced segregation and racial discrimination. Therefore Negro publications encountered the same discriminatory practices and handicaps as
Negroes in general. In 1947 during the printer's strike in Chicago, John H. Sengstacke clearly articulated the realities the Negro publications faced in society. Unlike the daily Press, Negro newspapers were generally weekly publications; however both depended on advertisements from business, subscriptions, and circulations for revenue.
Moreover, Negro papers were further restricted "by all the business limitations imposed upon our race."55 As the
Negro Press sought to eliminate racial discrimination and inequality, it portrayed a viewpoint somewhat different from the daily press. 40
ENDNOTES
1. Nancy L. Struna, "In 'Glorious Disarray'; The Literature of American Sport History," Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 56 (1985), 151-160.
2. Lerner, Gerda. The Majority Finds Its Past: Placing Women in History. (New York, NY: Oxford Uniyersity Press, 1979), 149-150.
3. Nancy L. Struna, "Beyond Mapping Experience: The Need for Understanding in the History of American Sporting Women," Journal of Sport History. 11 (Spring 1984); 120-133; Reet Howell,ed., Her Story in Snort; A Historical Anthology of Women in Sport. (West Point, NY: Leisure Press, 1982), 614.
4. Mary A. Boutilier and Lucinda SanGioyanni, The Sporting Woman (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics Publishers, 1983), 118.
5. Struna, "Beyond Mapping Experience," 120-133.
6. For information on black athletes, see David K. Wiggins, "Clio and the Black Athlete in America: Myths, Heroes and Realities," Guest 32 (1980): 217- 25; idem., "From the Plantation to Playing Field: Historical Writings on the Black Athlete in American Sport," Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. 57 (1986): 101-116. For surveys on women in sport, see Ellen, W. Gerber, Jan Felshin, Pearl Berlin, and Waneen Wyrick, The American Woman in Sport (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1974); Reet Howell,ed., Her Story in Sport; Stephanie Twin, ed., Out of the Bleachers: Writings on Women and Sport (Old Westbury, NY: The Feminist Press, 1979) ; Boutilier and SanGioyanni, Sporting Woman.
7. Lerner, Female Experience: An American Documentary. (Indianapolis, ID: Bobbs-Merrill, 1979), xxi; idem.. The Majority Finds Its Past; Placing women in History. (New York, NY: 1979), 160.
8. Kathleen E. McCrone, "Play Up! Play! and Play the Game! Sport at the Late Victorian Girls' Public School," Journal of British Studies. 8 (1984), 106.
9. Harry Edwards, Sociology of Sport (Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press, 1973), 232. 41
10. For general information on Negro women in sports, see Edwin B. Henderson, The Negro in Sports, rev. ed., (Washington, D.C.: The Associated Publishers, 1949), 230-242; Delores J. Brooks, "Black Olympians: The Distaff Side", Dollars & Sense June/July 1983, 58-78; Bessie Stockard, "The Black Female Athlete-Past and Present," The Crisis. 90 (May 1983), 16-18. For works on track and field, see Ed Temple, Only the Pure in Heart (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1980); Nolan A. Thaxton, "A Documentary Analysis of Competitive Track and Field for Women at Tuskegee Institute and Tennessee State University," (Ph.D Dissertation: Springfield College, 1970); Madeline Manning Jackson, Running for Jesus (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1977); Wilma Rudolph, Wilma (New York: National American Libraries, 1977); Pat Jordan, Broken Patterns (New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1977), 1-27; Andrew 3. "Doc" Young, Negro Firsts in Sports (Chicago: Johnson Publishing, 1963). For tennis, see Althea Gibson, I Always Wanted to be Somebody (New York: Harper, 1958).
11. Gibson, Wanted to be Somebody. 158.
12. Tina Sloan-Green, Carole Oglesby, Alpha Alexander, and Nikki Frankie, Black Women in Sport (Reston, VA: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, 1981); Kenneth Bentley, Going for the Gold . . . The Story of Black Women in Sports (Los Angeles: Carnation Company, 1983). For autobiographies and biographies about the black female athlete, see Gibson, Wanted to Be Somebody; Jackson, Running for Jesus; Rudolph, Wilma; Temple, Pure in Heart.
13. Often in popular writings such as Bentley's manu scripts or Ebony. the focus has been on athletes located on the west coast. Among those missing were two track athletes, Stephanie Hightower and Diane Dixon, who trained at The Ohio State Uniyersity under Coach Mamie Rallins a two-time Olympian.
14. Bentley, Going for Gold. 34-37.
15. Henderson, Negro in Sports. 230-242. For more information on women in tennis and other sports, see idem., 203-223 and 249-253, 255-258; 262-266. Due to the color line, participation with whites were limited. Both track and basketball allowed inter racial competition. The Women's National Amateur Athletic Union Track and Field Championship allowed competition between blacks and whites. Tuskegee was 42
the first colored team to win the Nationals in track and field in 1937 and retained their through 1942. Incidently, the girls from Tuskegee finished second at the National Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Track and Field Championship in 1936. Interracial competition also occurred in basketball. Organized in 1931, the Philadelphia Tribune Girls played by boys rules and travelled thousands of miles each year competing against both black and white opponents.
16. Ibid.. 230.
17. Ibid.. 230-242.
18. Ibid.. 242.
19. Joan S. Huit, "The Philosophical Conflict in Men’s and Women's Collegiate Athletics," Guest. 32 (1980), 77-94; Gerber, et al., American Woman. 48-85.
20. Young, Negro Firsts in Sport. 1963.
21. Marianna W. Davis, ed., The Contributions of Black Women To America Vol. I (Columbia, SC: Kenday Press, Inc., 1981), 493-589. Half of the sources cited in the introduction (10 of 18) and solo performers (8 of 16) appeared originally in Gerber and Henderson. Of 34 occurring the group identified those from Gerber, Henderson and Thaxton comprised more than half (32) of 62 footnotes listed for track and field.
22. Wiggins, "Clio and the Black Athlete," 220.
23. Lerner, Majority;, 170.
24. Struna, "Mapping," 130.
25. Melvin L. Adelman, A Sporting Time; New York Citv and the Rise of Modern Athletics. 1820-70 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 269-286; Susan Greendofer, "Sports and the Mass Media: General Overview," Arena Review. 7 (July, 1983), 1-6; David Wiggins, "The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin: The Response of America's Black Press," Research Ouarterlv for Exercise and Sport, 54 (1983), 278- 292; Harry Edwards, The Revolt of the Black Athlete. (New York: The Free Press, 1970), 30-37. For information on women and the media, see Leslie J. Friedman, A Sex Role Stereotyping in the Mass Media: An Annotated Bibliography. (New York: Garland Publishing, 1977); Gay Tuchman, et. al., eds.. Hearth and Home: Images of Women in the Mass Media. (New 43
York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 141=222.
26. The national press also is referred to as the daily newspaper in the Negro newspaper.
27. Carolyn Martindale, "Coverage of Black Americans in Five Newspapers Since 1950," Journalism Ouarterlv. 62 (1985), 321-322; idem.. The White Press and Black America. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986); George E. Simpson, The Negro in the Philadelphia Press. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1936); Noel P. Gist, "The Negro in the Daily Press," Social Forces. 10 (1932), 405-11.
28. Boutilier and SanGiovanni, Sporting. 183-218.
29. Susan H. Miller, "The Content of News Photos: Women's and Men's Roles," Journalism Ouarterlv. 52 (1975), 70-75.
30. Susan Greendofer, "Sports and the Mass Media: General Overview," Arena Review. Vol. 7, 1-6.
31. Janet Lever and Stanton Wheeler, "The Chicago Tribune Sports Page, 1900-1975," Sociologv of Sport Journal. 1 (1984), 299-313.
32. Yvonne LaBelle Slatton, "The Role of Women as Depicted Through Advertising in Selected Magazines, 1900-1968," (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation: University of Iowa, 1970).
33. Jan Rintala and Susan Birrell, "Fair Treatment for the Active Female: A Content Analysis of Young Athlete Magazine," Sociologv of Sport Journal. 1(1984), 231-250.
34. James Bryant, "A Two-Year Selective Investigation of the Female in Sports as Reported in the Paper Media," Arena Review. 4 (May, 1980), 32-44.
35. Dan Hilliard, "Media Images of Male and Female Professional Athletes: An Interpretive Analysis of Magazine Articles," Sociologv of Sport Journal. 1 (1984), 252-262.
36. Carla Rupp, "Sports Editors Urged to Hire More Women," Editors and Publishers. 109 (June 19, 1976), 13. 44
37. Nancy Thsberge and Alan Cronk. "Work Routines in Newspaper Sports Departments and the Coverage of Women's Sport," Sociology of Sport Journal 3 (1986), 195-203; Edwin B. Henderson, The Negro in Sports. 1949, 230-242.
38. Jomills H. Braddock, II, "The Sport Pages: In Black and White," Arena Review. 2 (Spring 1978), 17-25.
39. See, Rob Ruck, Sandlots Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1987) ; and Jules Tygiel, Baseball's Great Experiment; Jackie Robinson and His Legacy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1983).
40. David K. Wiggins, "Wendell Smith, the Pittsburgh Courier-Journal and the Campaign to Include Blacks in Organized Baseball, 1933-1945," Journal of Sport History. 10 (Summer, 1983), 5-29.
41. David K. Wiggins, "The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin: The Response of America's Black Press," Research Ouarterlv for Exercise and Sport. 54 (1983), 278-292.
42. Ibid., 290.
43. Mary McLeod Bethune, in "An Introduction," in Gerda Lerner, ed.. Black Women in White America : A Documentary History (New York: Pantheon Books, 1972), XXXV.
44. Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. Volume II rev. ed., (New York: Pantheon, 1972), 1073.
45. Angela Lumpkin, "Blacks and Females Striving for Athletic Acceptance," The North Carolina Journal. 28 (Spring 1982), 30.
46. Wilbert M. Leonard, A Sociological Perspective of Sport. 2nd ed. (Minneapolis, MN: Burgess Publishing Company, 1984), 199.
47. Marie M. Hart, "On Being Female in Sport," in Stephanie Twin, Out of the Bleachers; Writings on Women and Sports (Old Westbury, NY: Feminist Press, 1979), 25.
48. Gerda Lerner, The Majority Finds Its Past: Placing Women in History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), 68; Also see, Lerner, ed., Black Women. 45
49. Hart; "On Being Female," 25.
50. Henderson, Negro In Sport. 230.
51. Chicago Defender. 4 May 1935; see also 27 February 1943.
52. Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma. 913. See also, Frederick Detweiler, The Negro Press in U.S. (College Park, MD: McGrath Publishing Company, 1968); Henry Lewis Suggs, The Black Press in the South (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1983); Wolseley, Black Press Carolyn Martindale, The White Press and Black America (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986).
53. The white press is the daily press which claims to represent the city in which it was published. Elsewhere in the study, it will also be referred to as the daily press.
54. Detweiler, The Negro Press. 79.
55. Defender. 13 December 1947. CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY AND CONTENT ANALYSIS
Introduction
This study incorporated both objective and subjective techniques to examine the coverage the Negro Press gave to women's involvement in sports. The objective aspect consisted of recording and classifying data numerically.
The subjective dimension reflected the researcher's
interpretation of the content of the coverage. The primary research method used in this study was content
analysis. Bernard Bereleson defined content analysis as
"a research technique for the objective, systematic, and
quantitative description of manifest content of
communication."! Developed initially to quantify the
content of interviews, Bereleson demonstrated that content
analysis was applicable to any communication situation.
In his work, Bereleson identified 17 types of application
of content analysis. The investigator considered seven of
these in the development of the instrument used for the
recording of data; 1) describing trends in communication
content; 2) comparing media or "level" of communication;
3) auditing communication content against objectives;
4) constructing and applying communication standards;
46 47
5) discovering stylistic features; 6) reflecting atti tudes, interests and values of a group; and, 7) revealing the focus of attention.2
Although many scholars, including Klaus Krippendorff, attributed the widespread use of content analysis to
Berelson's book. Content Analvsis in Communication
Research, the definition and techniques of content analysis have been refined. Krippendorff defined content analysis as "a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from data to their context."3 For the purposes of this study, various categories identified by Bereleson, Krippendorff and the scholar of sports were modified [so that they were applicable] to sports reporting and the construction of a coding s y s t e m .4
Four factors relating to the amount of coverage given
to women were examined:
1. To what extent did the Negro Press cover women's sports? Did each issue of the newspaper contain news items on women's participation in sports? If so, then identify the frequency and the sport.
2. What type of newspaper items (articles, editorials, columns, by-lines, wire services, photographs and illustrations) was used? Where did the newspaper items appear: on the first page of the sports section or subsequent pages?
3. Did the article express a viewpoint for or against women's participation? 48
4. Who produced the newspaper? Were the writers men or women? Were all the editors males?
Data generated from these quantitative and qualitative techniques produced similarities and trends as well as differences for these variables: the amount of coverage; the distribution of coverage for time periods (months, annually); the activities that were reported (subject matter); and, the type of newspaper items; the page location and the content of the newspaper items.
Selection of newspapers
The investigator selected two Negro weekly newspapers, the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago
Defender based on geography, circulation and impact on the
Negro community. The Courier was founded in 1910 and it published several editions including a national one. It was a leader among weeklies and semi-weeklies in the Negro
Press ranking first in circulation among the "Big Four,"
the leading Negro newspapers, during the period examined.
Recognized as a leader in the Negro Press and especially
in sport journalism, it denounced Jim Crow laws and led
the campaign for the integration of Negroes into the major leagues.5
The Defender started in 1905 and ranked third in
circulation among Negro newspapers. It was continually a
strong advocate for the rights of the black individual and 49 the community.® Its ideology about the role of the newspaper bist describes the content of the paper:
Newspapers, like other institutions are composed of human beings who are charged with the responsibility of shaping opinion and bringing to the public current happenings. Journalism among our race is charged with a greater responsibility than among other groups. This is true because the opposition to the obtaining of those natural rights to which we are entitled, must, from time to time, be fought for.
... as an institution we have labored with an eye single to the economic, civic and political progress of the race.7
Collection of data
To insure a comprehensive view, every issue of each
newspaper was read for their respective dates. The
examination of these newspapers was limited to the front
page and the sports section. Since the sport section was
standardized prior to 1920, information relating to sports
was located there, unless it merited front page coverage.®
The sports section was usually identified in the table of
contents or by a sport banner. Only newspaper items about
women, their actual involvement in sporting activities
through management, leadership roles, and as a sport
reporter writer were recorded. Information about women as
spectators, cheerleaders or passive bystanders at sporting
events was not recorded as well as advertisements in the
sports section. Records were also maintained to indicate
the absence of sports coverage of women in each issue,
since the omission of news also was significant. 50
The national edition, only one of several editions published by the Courier and Defender, was selected and read.9 Occasionally, an edition other than the national one was copied on the microfilm. Therefore, records were kept to indicate both the edition and date of each issue of the newspaper. Prior to examining the sports section, the front page was inspected for a table of contents and headline news and sports stories. Coverage on the front page of the newspaper or the front page of the specific
section was significant since the front page frequently highlighted the major happenings. In the sports section,
the presence of key words such as; girl(s), woman, women.
Miss, Mrs., lassie(s), maiden, co-ed, feminine and sexette
in the title or the body of the stories alerted the
researcher to information about women. Since journalistic
analysts focus on space dedicated to stories as well as
the location, newspaper items were coded to indicate
prominence, the type of newspaper item, and the page
location.
CODING
Three categories constituted newspaper items: news
items, photographs and illustrations. News items were
further divided into articles above the foldline, articles
below the foldline, editorials, by-lines, repeating
columns, and wire service to indicate the type of
coverage.10 Newspaper items written by a specific writer 51 fell into one of the following categories: editorials, by-lines and repeating columns; Among this group the repeating column ranked first in prominence. Generally, written by the editor or other "seasoned" members of the staff, these columns reflected the most experienced writer and his thoughts about the major sporting events.
Repeating columns appeared year-round and generally its placement in the paper remained constant. Frequently the
newspaper designated a specific column for basketball,
golf, women's sports, tennis and other sports.
Consequently, a category designated for a specific sport
was coded to indicate the prevalence of the sporting
activity within the coverage by the newspaper. The
presence of the column varied according the season of the
activity. Since the format of newspapers varied, head
lines were not used as a category within news item.^l
Each newspaper item was also coded numerically by the page
number, location and the content of the article (See
Appendix A).
Units of assessment of content
There are two discreet measurements in content
analysis, the unit of classification and the unit of
enumeration. Independently, each represented the smallest
unit of content that may be recorded. In this study, each
newspaper item (news items, photograph or illustration)
was the smallest unit of content reported. Therefore, 52 each newspaper item served as both the unit of classification and the unit of enumeration. The unit of classification was the basis on which the content was analyzed and classified. On the other hand, the unit of enumeration was the basis for tabulating or assigning numerical value to the content. To avoid inflation of the data a newspaper item was only counted once, regardless of the content reported. When two or more subject-matter categories were included the subject matter with the greatest amount of information was coded first and a cross reference to the second was recorded also.
Content of coverage
This study sought to distinguish between "what is said" and "how it is said."12 Each of the newspaper items was coded to reflect these two dimensions; subject- matter and direction.
1. SUBJECT MATTER: What is the news item, photograph or illustration about?
Subi ect-Matter
Subject-matter was the most general category in the
content analysis. This consisted of such sports as basketball, tennis, track and field, golf, swimming,
bowling, ice skating. Also recorded were physical
education and sports management items, since women were
involved as instructors, owners of team or racing horses,
managers and trainers in boxing and coaches of men's 53 baseball and basketball teams. Women's participation in these roles reflected a higher level in the sport hierarchy. Management signified the acceptance by one's peers. As managers, teachers or administrators, individuals had the opportunity to influence behavior and to alter attitudes both directly and indirectly. A final group, sports reporters, was used to identify female writers. If the writer failed to include the subject- matter, which rarely happened, it was coded as unknown.
The content within each newspaper item was further
analyzed and coded to indicate the following categories
whenever possible: (see Appendix A for complete listing)
the role of the participant(s) the level of competition the racial mixture the gender orientation of the news item; all women, general or both men and women the site from which the story originated specific attributes that constitute direction the team and key performer(s) the gender composition of photographs.
2. DIRECTION: Is the communication/news item for or against the particular subject or neutral toward it?
Direction
To further analyze the content, variables used to
identify "direction" were coded. Direction referred to
the positive or negative treatment of the subject-matter:
Is the newspaper item favorable, unfavorable, blended
(presents both sides) or neutral? Direction in this study
reflected the researcher's interpretation of both the 54 verbal and visual content of the newspaper items. The researcher selected these criteria;
1. Neutral: General record of event reported, but the story did not provide specific information beyond the score (results) or upcoming events for an individual or a team.
2. Unfavorable: Presented overtones of sexism: a) marital status if it is linked to child bearing or identified spouse; b) female stereotypes and gender roles and c) demanding use of humor
3. Favorable: Absence of sexism. Contained information on won-lost records or achievements of the individual or team, identified key performance or achievement during an event, and described the competition or action of the activity and mentioned crowd support.
4. Blended: Contained both favorable and unfavorable data.
Due to the enormous amount of data collected and stored,
it was not feasible to code these categories manually.
Therefore computer assisted techniques were used.13
The classification of the data by subject-matter and direction made it possible for others to duplicate the
study as well as to make compare on between the papers.
These quantitative and qualitative approaches also provided a strong foundation on which to base further
research and analysis. Each newspaper item was coded for
the variables and key punched for analysis. Therefore, it
was possible to analyze each variable independently or any
combination of the variables, within each paper, or over
time or the period studied. 55
The scope of the study was not the chronicling of names and the achievements of sportswomen. Rather, the work focused on the inclusion and omission of sporting activities of black and non-black women in the two Negro newspapers examined. Inferences drawn from objective and systematic collected data was used to characterize the attitudes of blacks toward women in sports. The coding system included both verbal and visual content of each item about women in sports. Data generated by these quantitative and qualitative techniques were used in a content analysis to identify similarities and trends as well as differences among the following variables: the
amount of coverage; time periods (months, annually);
sports (subject-matter); type of newspaper items; page
location and the content of the newspaper items. 56
ENDNOTES
1. Bernard Berelson, Content Analvsis in Communication Research (Glencoe, IL: The Free Press, 1952), 18.
2. Ibid.. 26-113.
3. Klaus Krippendorff, Content Analvsis: An Intro duction to its Methodology (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publication, 1980), 21.
4. For general information on content analysis and sport see, Don Morrow and Janice Waters, "Method in Sport History: A Content Analysis Approach," Canadian Journal of History of Sport. December, 1982: 30-37. Several scholars have used content analysis to study sport in America and Canada. See, Janet Lever and Stanton Wheeler, "The Chicago Tribune Sports Page, 1900-1975," Sociologv of Sport Journal. 1 (1984): 231-250; Evelyn Janice Waters, "A Content Analysis Sport Section: 1927-1935", (unpublished Masters of Arts thesis. The University of Western Ontario 1981); R. Wayne Simpson, "A Content Analysis of Toronto's Business and Sporting Clubs, 1827-1881." Paper presentation at the North American Society for Sport History, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, May 21-24, 1982. Also valuable were: Jan Rintala and Susan Birrell, "Fair Treatment for the Active Female: A Content Analysis of Young Athlete Magazine," Sociologv of Sport Journal. 1(1984): 231- 250; James Bryant, "A Two-Year Selective Investigation of the Female in Sports as Reported in the Paper Media," Arena Review. 4 (May 1980): 32-44; Susan H. Miller, "The Content of News Photos: Women's and Men's Roles," Journalism Ouarterlv. 52 (1975); 70-75; Dan C. Hilliard, "Media Images of Male and Female Professional Athletes: An Interpretive Analysis of Magazine Articles," Sociology of Sport Journal 1(1984): 251-262; Yvonne LaBelle Slatton, "The Role of Women as Depicted Through Advertising in Selected Magazines, 1900-1968," (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation: University of Iowa, 1970).
5. The four leading Negro newspapers, known as the "Big Four," during the period examined for the study were the Pittsburgh Courier. Chicago Defender. Baltimore Afro-American and the New York Amsterdam. See, Roland E. Wolseley, The Black Press. USA (Ames, lA: Iowa State University Press, 1971), 30-49, 56; Vishnu V. Oaks, The Negro Press (Westport, CT: Negro University Press, 1948), 70, 125-126. 57
6. Wolseley, Black Press. 35-40.
7. Defender. 4 May 1940.
8. William H. Nugent, "The Sports Section," The American Mercury. 63 (March 1929): 329-338.
9. Occasionally, an edition other than the national one was copies on the microfilm, therefore, records were kept to indicate both the edition and date of each issue of the newspaper.
10. These division are significant for various reasons. Often they represent a hierarchy in the prominence of the news items. The location, author and or frequency of the news items determine the significant. Repeating columns are probably the most important because often times they are written by the editor and other staff writers of the paper and they appear regularly in the paper. Stories by staff writers as well as individuals outside of the paper may appear as a by-line. The by-line simply identifies the author to his or her story and writers may be assigned to cover specific sports. Frequently, stories occur that do not have an author identified and I have coded them based on their location on the paper when it is folded in half horizontally. An article above the foldline would be located on the upper(top) half of the paper while those below the foldline would be found on the lower(bottom) half of the paper. Generally, our attention is drawn to the top half of the paper and especially to the left corner or photographs. Materials submitted by sources external of the newspaper's such as wire services, editorials, and specials, frequently represent news stories or responses to stories rather than the attitudes of the editorial staff.
11. A record of headlines were not coded for the computer analysis, since it was not a primary variable in this study. However this information was noted on index cards and may be referred to occasionally.
12. See, Bereleson, Content Analvsis. 148-149. Krippendorff proposes a slightly different process to make inferences from the data with broader use for institutional processes. See, Krippendorff, Content Analvsis. 35-47. 58
13. Programmed to identify all newspaper items containing sexist remarks and those without sexist remarks. If the newspaper item contained two or more of the variables between columns 32 and 39 and contained sexist remarks then it was classified as balanced. All other items containing sexist remarks were labelled as unfavorable. For the remaining newspaper items with no sexist remarks, those with three or more variables between occurring between columns 32 and 39 were labelled as favorable. The remaining items were classified as neutral. During the coding process, a newspaper items without sexist remarks seldom contained more than two variables between columns 32 and 39 unless it reported previous achievements, crowd size or crowd support. CHAPTER IV
AN ANALYSIS OF SPORTSWOMEN IN THE SPORT SECTION
AND ON THE FRONT PAGE
The coverage the Negro Press gave the American sportswomen was more widespread and more favorable than literature on women in sports depicted. While never equivalent to the coverage of sportsmen, there was a significant number of newspaper items on women participating in sports. This chapter analyzed four major variables; the extent of coverage, the type of coverage, the style of coverage, and the production of the media.
While similar to the daily press in some aspects, the
Negro Press differed in three of the four categories studied. The most obvious difference was the absence of gender role stereotypes in the sports section. However, the extent of coverage illuminated the most obvious differences between the Pittsburgh Courier and Chicago
Defender.
THE EXTENT OF COVERAGE
The Period and Subperiod
The Defender gave significantly more coverage to women in sport than the Courier, even though it only 59 60 overlapped the latter 17 years of the 25 year period studied in the Pittsburgh paper. The news about sportswomen in the Defender exceeded the Courier's total amount by 333 items (Table 1). For the sub-period, 1932 through 1948, the Courier published 771 newspaper items on women in sports. Newspaper items appearing in the
Defender. more than doubled those reported in the
Courier.1 The inclusion of women in sport reflected a complex web of factors. It extended beyond merely the presence and absence of reports in an individual issue.
Both newspapers afforded coverage to women in sports in nearly half of the issues during their respective periods. For the twenty-five year span, 689 of 1258 papers contained 1408 bulletins on sportswomen. Coverage of the sportswoman prior to the subperiod, 1924 and 1931 was proportionately more abundant. During the span, 637
items on women occurred in 282 of the 410 issues. These reports constituted over 45 percent of the Pittsburgh paper's news for the twenty-five year span. Between 1932
and 1948, the number of issues with no coverage in the
Courier rose from 128 to 441. These issues constituted
more than one-half of the Pittsburgh's total issues.
However, the exclusion of sportswomen in the Chicago paper
occurred in less than 30 percent of its issues. Further
inspection of the issues by months or years revealed other
trends in and between the publications. 61
Table 1.
Coverage by issue and designated years for the Pittsburg
Courier and the Chicago Defender.
YEARS NONE YES SUBTOTAL MISSING (ISSUES)
Courier 1924-1948 569 689 1258 (1300) 45.23 54.77 100.00 3.23
Courier 1924-1931 128 282 410 6 (416) 31.22 68.78 100.00 1.60
Courier 1932-1948 441 407 848 36* (884) 52.00 48.00 100.00 4.07
Defender 1932-1948 252 630 882 2 (884) 28.57 71.43 100.00 2.25
*Due to a technical error in the reproduction of the Courier. 30 of 36 issues missing were unavailable. 62
Monthly Coverage
An analysis by months depicted an absence of stories usually between October and December in both newspapers.
Regardless of the interval examined, 40 to 42 percent of the Courier's issues failed to include women's coverage between these months. The descent in the Defender was
slightly higher. More than one-half or 130 issues with no
coverage of women occurred during the last quarter of the year.
The absence of coverage in the Pittsburgh and Chicago
papers may be attributed to many factors. The preeminence
of football in the fall and the winter possibly left
little space for other sporting news. According to Eddie
Gant of the Defender, a decrease in sporting activities
outside of football during this period should be expected.
He commented that "whether the rabid baseball and tennis
fans like it or not, and whether the weather man is
willing to cooperate ... we have all got to step aside for
the advance of football, which will take over in the sport
pages within a few weeks."2 Football may not have been
the only factor contributing to this decline.
Other factors contributing to the absence of coverage
between October and December were rooted in the seasonal
nature of sports. Stories about sportswomen in the
Defender during the last three months comprised nearly
eight percent of its total coverage as opposed to six 63 percent in the Courier for the same interval. Frequently, the Defender reported stories about badminton and bowling as well as basketball during this span. This contrast in sporting activities indicated that the decline in coverage may be related to the seasons of competition for women as well the increased coverage of men's football and other sports. Potentially, it may also be reflective of the editorial preference for or against "recreational" activities versus more "competitive" sporting events.
Yearly Coverage
During the quarter century from 1924-1948, a total of
1,408 newspaper items on women in sports appeared in the
Courier. The greatest occurrence was in 1927, the least
in 1945. Four of the five highest yearly frequencies
happened during the "Golden Age of Sports" before the
Great Depression.3 The coverage during the interwar
years, 1924 through 1940, was fairly stable. A decrease
in reports emerged during World War II followed by an
escalation of items afterwards.
The stability of the interwar years was lost after
the beginning of the World War II. One cause for the
decline was the decrease in sports activities held and the
storage of newsprint available. The Courier's sports
section declined from three to one and a half pages per
issue during these years. The size of the Defender's
sport section also decreased. However, the content of the 64 newspaper items indicated that other factors both prior and subsequent to the war may have come into play. During the interwar years, a large portion of women's sporting
activities occurred in northern high schools and amateur
clubs. After the war many of the stories appearing in the
Courier originated from black colleges and high schools in
the South. The surge after the war easily could be
attributed to the conclusion of the war, more leisure time
and the opportunity for participation in the 1948
Olympics. Both the 1940 and 1944 Games had been cancelled
due to the war.
The profile of the Courier differs drastically when
the analysis is limited to the years, 1932 through 1948
(Table 2). The total percentage of issues with coverage
dropped more than six percent. The greatest frequency
between 1932 was less than two-thirds of the amount
recorded for 1927. Although the coverage during the
Depression years diminished somewhat from that of the
"golden age" of sport, the emphasis and popularity of
basketball and tennis was still noticeable.
The distinction in the Courier's coverage between the
first eight years of the period and the subperiod, 19 32
and 1948, also exemplified its principal contrast with the
Defender. The narratives during 1932, 1933 and 1938
ranked among the top five years of coverage for the
subperiod in both papers. Despite this commonality, the 65
Table 2.
Coverage bv year for the Pittsburgh Courier during the subperiod 1924 - 1948.
YEAR NONE YES MISSING
1924 12 36 6 1925 14 79 0 1926 17 100 0 1927 11 128 0 1928 24 68 0 1929 17 98 0 1930 14 60 0 1931 19 68 0 1932 16 82 0 1933 13 78 0 1934 18 74 0 1935 24 37 0 1936 24 52 4 1937 34 39 0 1938 25 59 0 1939 22 57 0 1940 13 21 30* 1941 30 42 1 1942 27 31 0 1943 37 21 0 1944 36 22 0 1945 41 13 0 1946 30 44 0 1947 30 36 1 1948 21 63 0
TOTAL 569 1408 42
= Total number of issues (25 X 52) = Total missing issues (1300 - 42) overage == 569 Coverage = 1258 - 569 = 689
♦February 3 through August 24, 1940 missing due to reproduction error. 66 publications in the Chicago paper clearly exceeded its
Pittsburgh counterpart. Slightly more than three-fifths of the issues in the Defender contained some coverage as opposed to slightly less than one-half of the issues in the Courier. When analyzed by a five-year period, the
largest portion of the Pittsburgh paper's coverage (41.9%) happened between the 1932 and 1936 Olympic Games.On the
other hand, while Chicago was the hometown of a two-time
Olympian, Tydie Pickett, the Defender's greatest frequency
over a five-year period did not occur during the Olympic
Years (Table 3). The Chicago paper's reports of women's
activities between 1932 and 1936 comprised only 31.7
percent of its total coverage given to women.
The five year frequency pattern of the Defender and
Courier are markedly different. In comparison to the
Courier, the Defender's pattern would have to be adjusted
one year prior to and after the four year period from
1938-1941. The Defender's stories peaked during a non-
Olympic year and its second crest occurred in 1940, when
the Olympic Games were not held. Likewise, the frequency
for 1942 ranked sixth in its overall coverage. This
disparity between the two papers implied that Defender
valued and frequently reported happenings beyond those
associated with the Olympic Games and the three most
prevalent sports.5 67
Table 3.
Coverage bv year in the Chicago Defender.
YEAR NONE YES MISSING
1932 5 136 0
1933 7 140 0
1934 13 100 1
1935 10 100 0
1936 15 76 1
1937 12 98 0
1938 14 139 0
1939 12 111 0
1940 7 177 0
1941 5 203 0
1942 13 118 0
1943 21 65 0
1944 29 39 0
1945 30 28 0
1946 24 55 0
1947 23 73 0
1948 12 83 0
TOTALS 252 1741 2
884 Total number of issues (17 x 52) 882 Total missing issues (884 - 2) 441 No Coverage 407 Some Coverage (848 - 441) 68
During World War II the coverage of women in sports plunged in both papers. The years, 1943-1945, comprised about seven percent of the total coverage in each paper.
Generally, this span fell among the five years with the
least amount of coverage. Not only did the frequency decrease, but an annual examination of the number of
issues with no coverage increased. Between 1943 and 1945
one-fourth of the issues lacked coverage in the Courier
and almost one-third in the Defender.
The decline in coverage from 1943 through 1945
indicated that World War II altered both the lives and
sporting experiences of all sports participants. The war
eliminated competition abroad and restricted sporting
events in the United States. Several popular events
including tennis and track were cancelled or reduced
during the war years. Many athletes both male and female
entered the service or worked in defense plants.
Restrictions in travel also contributed to the
cancellation or the reduction of several major sporting
activities. Jean Lane who received two votes in the
Associated Press Poll for 1941 Women Athlete of the Year,
like many other athletes, was unable to compete in the Pan
American Games or the Olympic Games. Even though the war
restricted travel and hampered regional and national
tournaments, many athletes competed at the local level and
in activities sponsored by the service.& 69
The postwar period depicted a resurgence in the reporting of athletics. The total coverage increased in both papers during the last three years of the study.
When compare to the previous three years (1943-1945), the reports of total coverage increased from 12 percent to 15 percent in the Defender and 22 to 29 percent in the
Courier.
THE TYPE OF COVERAGE AND SPORT EVENTS
Type of Newspaper Items
The coverage of women in sports included a variety of athletic events and reported using various types of newspaper items. Many of these accounts were featured in new items above the foldline and in photographs primarily on the first and second pages of both publications.
Generally, the most important events appeared on the first page of the specific section if not on the front page of the newspaper. Only a few articles appeared on the third and succeeding pages during the twenty-five year span.
An investigation of the two publications for the subperiod exhibited similar patterns. Between 1932 and
1948 reports on the third and following pages yielded 49 newspaper items in the Courier. 238 in the Defender. The proportion of news appearing on the first page of the
sport section exceed those on the second page by nearly ten percent in each paper. The first and second pages
accounted for almost 92 percent (708 of the 771 items) in 70 the Courier and 85 percent (1476 of the 1741 items) in the
Defender (Tables 4 and 5).
Two of the most important factors determining the significance of newspaper items are the location of the article in relationship to the foldline of the paper and the presence of photographs. In the Courier from 1924 through 1948, slightly more than forty-one percent of the data were articles without an identifying label below the foldline. Seventeen percent were articles located above the foldline without an identifying label. Photographs constituted 12.5 percent of the coverage. The total number of articles above the foldline without a label and photographs, alone, accounted for thirty percent of the
Courier's coverage of females. The other six categories constituted seventy percent. The pattern of the newspaper items during the subperiod within the Courier reflected a similar pattern (Table 4). Although this period contained
125 of the 175 photographs, both photos and articles
appearing above the foldline remained at thirty percent.
Thus the net of the two categories remained constant, even
though the type of newspaper items published changed.
The subperiod revealed other noticeable differences
between the two newspapers. Articles below the foldline
equalled over 42 percent of the Courier's total news
(Table 5). In the Defender, articles below the foldline
totaled less than 38 percent (658). The Defender featured 71
Table 4.
Newspaper items bv page location - Courier
TYPE OF NEWS 1ST 2ND 3RD 4 + FRONT PAPER ITEM PAGE PAGE PAGE PAGE PAGE TOTAL
Above 52 40 9 2 0 103 foldline 50.49 38.83 8.74 1.94 0.00 13.38 13.07 12.90 20.45 40.00 0.00
Below 167 143 13 2 1 326 foldline 51.23 43.87 3.99 0.61 0.31 42.34 41.96 46.13 29.55 40.00 7.69
Editorial 3 0 0 0 0 3 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.39 0.75 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Byline 42 33 6 0 3 84 50.00 39.29 7.14 0.00 3.57 10.91 10.55 10.65 13.64 0.00 23.08
Sport column 22 13 1 0 0 36 61.11 36.11 2.78 0.00 0.00 4.68 5.53 4.19 2.27 0.00 0.00
Regular 32 26 2 0 0 60 column 53.33 43.33 3.33 0.00 0.00 7.79 8.04 8.39 4.55 0.00 0.00
Wire service 15 10 1 0 2 28 53.57 35.71 3.57 0.00 7.14 3.64 3.77 3.23 2.27 0.00 15.38
Wire with 1 1 1 0 0 3 byline 33.33 33.33 33.00 0.00 0.00 0.39 .25 0.32 2.27 0.00 0.00
Photo with 61 42 11 1 7 122 caption 50.00 34.43 9.02 0.82 5.74 15.84 15.33 13.55 25.00 20.00 53.85
Photo with 2 1 0 0 0 3 news item 66.67 33.33 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.39 0.50 0.32 0.00 0.00 0.00 72
Table 4. (Continued)
Illustration 1 0 0 0 0 1 only 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 .13 0.25 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Illustration 0 1 0 0 0 1 news item 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 .13
TOTAL 398 210 44 5 13 770 51.69 40.26 5.71 0.65 1.69 100.00 73
Table 5.
Newspaper items bv pacre location - Defender
TYPE OF NEWS- 1ST 2ND 3RD 4 + FRONT PAPER ITEM PAGE PAGE PAGE PAGE PAGE TOTAL
Above 118 137 43 1 5 304 foldline 38.82 45.07 14.14 0.33 1,64 17,46 14.43 20.82 18.30 33.33 19.23
Below 330 252 69 2 4 657 foldline 50.23 38.36 10.50 0.30 0,61 37.74 40.34 38.30 29.36 66.67 15,38
Editorial 1 0 1 0 0 2 50.00 0.00 50.00 0,00 0.00 0.11 0.12 0.00 0.43 0,00 0,00
Byline 92 62 24 0 2 181 50.83 34.25 13.26 0.00 1.10 10.40 11.25 9.42 10.21 0,00 7.69
Sport 43 34 9 0 0 86 column 50.00 39.53 10.47 0.00 0,00 4.94 5.26 5.17 3.83 0,00 0.00
Regular 40 38 20 0 1 99 column 40.40 38.38 20.20 0.00 1,01 5.69 4.89 5.78 8.51 0.00 3.85
Wire 10 3 1 0 0 14 service 71.43 21.43 7,14 0,00 0.00 0.80 1.22 0.46 0,43 0.00 0,00
Wire with 2 0 0 0 0 2 byline 100.00 0.00 0.00 0,00 0.00 0.11 1.22 0.46 0,00 0,00 0,00
Photo only 1 0 0 0 0 1 100.00 0.00 0,00 0,00 0.00 0.06 0.12 0.00 0,00 0.00 0.00
Photo with 151 124 65 0 12 352 caption 42.90 35.23 18,47 0,00 3.41 20.22 18,46 18,84 27,66 0,00 46.15 74
Table 5. (continued)
Photo with 30 7 3 0 2 42 news item 71.43 16.67 7.14 0.00 4.76 2.41 3.67 1.06 1.28 0.00 7.69
Illustration 0 1 0 0 0 1 with 0.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0. 06 caption 0.00 0.15 0.00 0.00 0.00
TOTAL 818 658 235 3 26 1740+ 46.98 37.79 13.50 0.17 1.49 100.0 75 a higher proportion of photographs than the Courier.
Frequently, the Chicago paper reprinted the same picture and summary in subsequent stories about an individual, athlete, or a team. A total of 395 pictures yielded almost a quarter of the total coverage published. Of this number, forty-two supplemented a story. Combined the photographs (22.69%) and the articles appearing above the
foldline (17.46%) constituted forty percent of the
Defender's total coverage.
An examination of the newspaper items on the front page reflected another significant contrast between the
two papers for the subperiod. While both papers
frequently placed sports on the front page, these items
were predominately about men.? Sportswomen seldom
appeared. Sportswomen on the front page never exceeded
two percent of the total coverage of them in either paper.
The number of items appearing on the front page of the
Chicago paper (26) doubled those printed by the Pittsburgh
one (13).
Further scrutiny of activities on the front page
illuminated the preference given to specific activities
and occurrences. For example, nine of the Courier's
thirteen reports involved track and field. Some of the
most noticeable ones featured a series of articles and
photographs noting Alice Coachman's victory and Welcome
Home Celebration after the 1948 Olympics. Coachman's 75 success and recognition also received front page coverage in the Defender. The Chicago paper proclaimed that she was the only American female to win at the Olympic Games held in London and that a celebration, "Coachman's Day", was to be held in her honor.® Both newspapers frequently exalted national and international achievements of black athletes, so the inclusion of Alice Coachman, the first black sportsman to win an Olympic crown, on the front page was not out of the ordinary.® As one the most accessible sports, track and field, provided an opportunity for competition among blacks and non-blacks, frequently success in the Olympic Games generated publicity at home and abroad.10
The Defender's front page coverage was more evenly distributed across four sports. The breakdown for 19 of the 23 items was as follows; three, golf; four, tennis; and six for track and six bowling. The Chicago paper reported eight items on the front page between 1937 and
1941 including two reports on the national golf championship in 1938 and a headline of Tuskegee's victory in the National Women's A.A.U. Championship.il In 1937 the Tuskegee Institute Women's Track Program became the
first colored team to win a national championship. The editors of the Chicago paper overlooked another "first" in the history of national tournaments in their reporting of
events on the front page, even though the champions 77 resided in Chicago. The subheadlines of the sport section in the Defender announced, "The Pat Balls Win Two Golf
Championships - A Double Win for Chicago."12 On the other hand, the front page of the Pittsburgh paper contained a photograph of Pat and Cleo Ball, the first couple to
capture individual honors at a national tournament, the
National Negro Golf Championship in 1941. The Courier
also published three relating items in the sports section
including a picture of Cleo Ball accompanying a story
about the success of the couple, another photograph of
Cleo with Vivian Pitts, the runner-up in the sport section
and a picture of Esther Wilson, the winner of the first
flight title match.13
Sporting Activities
Basketball, tennis and track, the "Big Three," were
the most prevalent sports for the years studied.14 From
1924 through 1948, they comprised nearly four-fifths of
the bulletins appearing in the Courier. They also
accounted for slightly less than two-thirds of the
summaries in the Chicago paper (Table 6) and over three-
quarters of those item published by the Pittsburgh paper
(Table 7) from 1932 through 1948. Tennis and basketball
were popular activities for women and the Olympic Games
included both track and tennis.15 Although black women
achieved a higher degree of visibility and acceptance in
track and field, both the Pittsburgh Courier and the 78
Table 6.
Occurrence of basketball. tennis and track and their share of the total coverage in the Chicago Defender
YEARB-BALL TENNIS TRACK OVERALL
1932 58 25 14 97/136
1933 62 38 20 120/140
1934 48 22 13 83/100
1935 46 26 12 84/100
1936 24 19 20 63/76
1937 25 24 19 68/98
1938 49 26 28 103/139
1939 27 25 23 75/111
1940 21 56 32 109/177
1941 20 37 26 83/203
1942 20 21 19 60/118
1943 7 6 9 22/65
1944 2 7 12 21/39
1945 5 5 8 18/28
1946 9 11 10 30/55
1947 2 13 14 29/73
1948 0 5 37 42/83
TOTAL 425 366 316 1107/1741
38.39 33.06 28.55 100.00
N = 1107 79
Table 7.
Occurrence of basketball. tennis and track and their share of the total coverage in the Pittsburgh Courier
YEARS B-BALL TENNIS TRACK OVERALL
1932 44 12 15 71/82
1933 44 15 8 67/78
1934 36 18 9 63/74
1935 21 5 2 28/37
1936 18 14 17 49/52
1937 4 22 6 32/39
1938 16 21 10 47/59
1939 15 19 11 45/57
1940 6 7 1 14/21
1941 10 11 8 29/42
1942 14 3 5 22/31
1943 4 4 0 8/21
1944 5 6 4 15/22
1945 2 4 1 7/13
1946 3 15 4 22/44
1947 5 7 7 19/36
1948 1 9 31 41/63
TOTAL 248 192 139 579/771
42.83 33.16 24.01 100.00
N = 579 80
Chicago Defender gave considerable coverage to other sports.
Track was reported less frequently than either basketball or tennis and occasionally, golf or bowling.
Track reached its zenith in both newspaper during the 1948
Olympic Games. In fact, this was the only year that it ranked first, among all sporting activities in the Couri er. In the Chicago paper, track achieved this position in
1944, 1945 and 1948.
Further analysis of the "Big Three" revealed that the
season of competition for these sports probably attributed
to the decline in coverage during the last three months of
the year. Generally, training for basketball and a few
contests started as early as mid-November or early
December. Nevertheless, basketball coverage during the
last trimester varied from 9 percent in the Defender to a
little more than 12 percent in the Courier for the
subperiod. Both newspaper reported a minimum of 85
percent of basketball coverage between January and April.
In Southern institutions, the basketball season varied and
was linked closely to the academic year. The tennis
season extended from July through August, while track
reached its peak between April and August. Only a small
number of sporting activities appeared in June, since no
major sporting events or championships were held. 81
Track
Track received its greatest coverage during the years surrounding Olympic competition, despite the annual
Tuskegee Relays and the Women's National Amateur Athletic
Union (AAU) Championships. These three sporting events represented the women's track and field championship in the world, in the black community and in America. The
Tuskegee Institute Women, who frequently captured the
Tuskegee Relays, dominated the National AAU Women's Track and Field Championship after their entrance in 1936. The press frequently praised their achievements. They were formally recognized during half-time of a home football game.16
Newspaper items about track and field in the Courier ranged from a low one in 1924 to a high of 31 in 1948.
During the Olympic Games in London, nine black females earned positions on the United States Women's Track Team and Alice Coachman won the only gold medal for the
American w o m e n . 17 %n the Defender, the coverage of track was more constant, especially during the years that
Tuskegee Institute Varsity Women's Track and Field Team won either the Amateur Athletic Union Women's Indoor or
the Outdoor Championships.
Considering these variations, the interest in track
correlated with the success of Negro women in the AAU
National Championship and Olympic competition as opposed 82 to track being the most frequently reported sport in the
Negro Press. Although track has been perceived as the most prevalent sport among black women, scholars have overlooked the fact that track was the only sport which did not openly ban black women from participating against whites in competition. Therefore, when blacks had the opportunity and to compete against whites and performed successful in major sporting events, the daily press was available and sometimes it transmitted the achievements of
Negroes in the results.
In 1936 James Park, a former track coach at Lincoln
Univeristy (Missouri), criticized black colleges for their overemphasis and spending on football rather than track and field. He asserted that the development of one
superstar such as Jesse Owens or Ralph Metacalfe "would bring more national and international renown and
attention" to a black college than the "football
classics". The coverage of black athletes extended
beyond the men. The prowess of the female trackters
Tennessee State University more so than Tuskegee Institute
have long been recognized in the daily Press as well as in
the Negro Press. While the daily press provided coverage
of some interracial activities in track and field,
frequently it disregarded the sporting activities
occurring only among Negroes. Thus the perception of 83 racial dominance in track may have emerged and been reinforced because of the situation.
Basketball
Of "Big Three", basketball ranked first in the frequency of news reported in both publications, even though the Defender's portion of basketball news was significant lower than the Courier's. Basketball reports yielded around a half of the news about the sportswomen in the Pittsburgh paper, regardless of the interval studied.
The interest and popularity of the game among participants and fans led to the formation of a league. In 1925, the
Courier sponsored a girls league which opened its season
in December. The paper announced that it would be
sponsoring a girls' tri-state district league "urged by
lovers of the sport in an amateur way, and with the hope
of really bringing the game home to the girls and young
women in a sense to emphasize its worth."19
The Courier provided excellent coverage of the Girls'
League. It published requests for bookings, upcoming
games, box scores and the league standings.20 The
Courier's League featured other innovations applied to
women, notably that the girls played by the "prevailing
boy's r u l e . "21 i t also printed a basketball directory
composed of men's and women's teams as well as reported on
games played throughout the East, the Mid-west, and the
South. The Defender also published accounts from various 84 regional games, but it did not provide a directory of basketball teams for men or women. Stories in both paper indicated that many of the southern teams played six-on- six, while most of the northern teams had five players per squad.
After the war, coverage of basketball diminished in both newspapers. Accompanying this decline, a shift occurred in the geographical location and the level of competition. Whereas the coverage during the first 12 years involved amateur and high school teams in the north, stories during the subsequent years featured Negro colleges and high schools in the South. Prior to 1943, the Chicago paper occasionally reported on local teams and its New York affiliate team, Bessye Bearden's New York
Defenders. as well as many of the southern institutions.
Either the Courier overlooked the northern teams or many of these teams simply disappeared. Clearly during the war years, the coverage of basketball diminished in both newspapers. This decline may have been due to the a
reduction in women's teams and the diminishing
availability and demand of costly indoor facilities during
the period as well as to editorial policies. Also, the
death of Otto Briggs in November, 1943, had a significant
impact on women's participation in sports. He had
organized the famed Philadelphia Tribune Girls, national
colored basketball champions, and promoted several other 85 women stars in the northeast including Ora Washington
(tennis) and Inez Patterson (swimming)Besides the
Tuskegee's Women Track Team, The Philadelphia Tribune
Girls were one of the most widely extolled team in both papers. According to A1 Monroe, a columnist in the
Defender, their success in basketball "overshadowed anything done by any bunch of girls in either race".23
Tennis
Unlike basketball and track, the coverage of tennis remained fairly constant over the periods. Even though four or less articles appeared, respectively, in 1942,
1943 and 1945, tennis repeatedly ranked second in total coverage in the Pittsburgh paper (Table 8). It also ranked second among the activities the Defender reported.
Nonetheless, tennis was the most desirable and popular amateur sport for women. The page location as well as quantity of space and the quality of coverage reported in repeating columns, articles above the foldline, photographs, and by-lines illustrated its favorable
status.
Each year both the Courier and Defender listed the
America Tennis Association (ATA) rankings of the top women
players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles as well as
for singles for men, veterans, junior boys, and junior
girls when applicable. Prior to the Nationals, they
published pre-game hype about the leading contenders and 86
Table 8.
Classification of content for newspaper items in the
Courier and the Defender
DIRECTION COURIERDEFENDER
Neutral 393 692 50.97 39.75
Balanced 36 141 4.67 8.10
Favorable 335 897 43.45 51.51
Unfavorable 7 11 0.91 0.63
Total 771 1741 100.0 100.0 87 the various social activities planned. News relating the nationals during the subperiod constituted almost half to the tennis items in the Courier and slightly more than one-third in the Defender. Generally, both papers reported the men's and women's results jointly; however, during four of the five years between 1937 and 1941 the
Defender published separate stories on women's championship.
The National American Tennis Association Championship was the annual "social and athletic event" for Negroes, but W. Rolle Wilson, a writer for the Courier reminded the press and the country in 1928 that it was an athletic competition. He blasted the ATA press officials for their zealous coverage of the social aspects, when they omitted announcing the names of the athletes. Wilson contended that sportswriters "pay too much attention to the social and not enough to the athletic part of our sports classics." Continuing he disclosed that "real fans want to know if Dr. Downing, Hudlin, Eyre Saitoh, Ted Thompson,
Tally Holmes, the Wordes and other stars are to compete.
They want to know about the feminine Ballards, Juniors, Washingtons, etc."24
The papers frequently reported an array of local,
state, and regional tournaments as well as the national
tournaments. These included such regional championships
as the Eastern Sectional, the Cockburn Cup, the Southern 88
Open, the Southeastern Open, and several state and open tournaments in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, West
Virginia, Alabama, and North Carolina. Approximately 13 percent of the bulletins published by the Chicago paper featured local clubs, whereas reports of local club were scarce in the Pittsburgh paper during the subperiod.
Tennis reports were rare in both papers between 1940 and 1945. When news stories appeared they profiled activities sponsored in the south. Bulletins relating to tennis activities in the north rarely appeared. The
Nationals were cancelled in 1943 due to the war and travel restrictions.25 In 1942, no coverage was given about the finals of the Nationals in the Pittsburgh paper. This may have been due to the space devoted to series of debates about the integration of blacks into the major leagues.
The popularity and interest in tennis escalated after the war. In 1946 the English couple of Mary Hardwicke and
Charles Hare played exhibitions matches at the Negro
Nationals.
Other sporting activities
In addition to the aforementioned sports, the Negro
Press covered a variety of activities which were commonly
not believed to be popular among blacks such as golf,
horse back riding, ice skating and swimming. The Defender
provided excellent coverage of golf between 1937 and 1941.
In 1940 two national golf championship were held in 89
Chicago at Palos Hill within one week of each other.
Despite the discord among golfers of the district and the
country, sportswriter Horace M. McDougal praised The
Chicago Woman's Club who made history when they became the
first women's club to host the United Golfers Association
Championship. He asserted that "The Chicago Women's Golf
club has covered itself with glory" and the tournament was
a "tremendous success, from the standpoint of the size of
entries as well as financially."26
Women were also involved in a variety of sporting
activities that have been generally restricted to men.
The Negro Press reported women's involvement in non-
traditional feminine sports such as boxing, horse racing,
men's baseball and men's basketball. Both papers reported
women as participants and revealed that they served as
owners, coaches, and managers in sports. Women
experienced a wide range of leadership roles in athletics.
On March 9, 1935, the Courier announced that a
baseball team, the Boston ABC, established a precedent by
electing Mrs. Clara Muree Jones as president of the team.
A couple of months later, a photograph in the Defender
identified her as the only female owner of a Race team,
the Boston Red Sox.2? At least four women, Effa Manley,
Clara Muree Jones, Mrs. C. 0. Taylor and Mrs. Cum Posey
possessed teams. The latter two women acquired the team
following the death of their spouse.28 90
Mrs. Effa Manley, co-owner with her husband of the
Newark Eagles was one of the most prominent and influential female owners. Not only was the "ever-vocal"
Effa the business manager and real "boss" of the Eagles, but she influenced decisions within the National Negro
League (NNL). According to a Courier writer. Jack
Saunders, "the lovely and yet aggressive Effa Manley is, despite her sex, one of the real powers of Negro baseball."29 Her authority reached beyond the Newark
Eagles. She was actively involved with the NNL. She
chaired several committees including a charity ball for
the NNL and advocated candidates, respectively, for
commissioner and president of the NNL.20
The innovative owner (Allen Page) of the New Orleans
Creoles, a "true businessman," hired a women as a coach in
1947. The wire release from the Negro Press Association
declared "novelty has been added to baseball by the New
Orleans Creoles, members of the Negro Southern League"
with the addition of Mrs. Lucille Herbert as first base
c o a c h21 . Her credentials were impressive. For the
future, she wanted a position at a recreational or
playground facility. The following year the Pittsburgh
paper announced that a second female player was being recruited.22
Professional baseball was a popular sport during the
period. Maggie Riley, the "female Babe Ruth" played for a 91 men's team in New York. The Defender printed a story in
March 1924, that this same New York team was recruiting
Laura Johnson, a first baseman from the west coast. It reported that Johnson earned $5000 while playing for a team from Tacoma, Washington.33 Interest in playing professionally was also prevalent. In 1945 one female wrote Wendell Smith, the editor of the Pittsburgh paper,
and proposed the formation of a women's softball that would parallel the National Negro L e a g u e . 34
Leadership roles of women were not restricted to
baseball. Laura Junior, a New Jersey tennis player, was
the first female vice-president of the ATA. Several women
owned racing horses who captured major purses including
the Kentucky Derby. In the 1924 Mrs. R. W. Hoots' horse.
Black Gold, won the Golden Jubilee Derby, an event at the
Kentucky Derby. This victory marked only the second time
that a female owner had produced a Derby winner. Elmwood
owned by Mrs. Lasca Burnell was the first Kentucky Derby
winner in 1904.35 Even though, the Defender did not
mention the race of these women, the investigator believes
that a few were non-black.35 Battleship, owned by Mrs.
Marian Dupont Scott, became the first American owned and
bred horse to win the Grand National Steeplechase race
during its 100 year old history in 1938.3? Mrs. Albert
Sabbath's two-year champion, Alsab. earned $78,055 in eighteen starts.38 92
Although most women trained and coached members of their own sex, a few women worked with men. Mrs. Willette
(Goodlette) Hill held the distinction of being the only women to coach a major basketball team for men. She also coached the women's basketball team at Tennessee State
University (TSU). Under her tutelage, both TSU teams were successful.39
In the sporting world it is commonly believed that
"...there is no place in the manly art of self-defense for
feminine pulchritude because a woman can't bear the flow of crimson or tolerate the many breeches of etiquette which to fight mob accepts as dignified and
appropriate."40 Yet women were involved in pugilism on
several levels.
In 1924, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission
suspended the license of Mrs. Bessie Prenty, who conducted
the Golden Gate Athletic Club.41 Twenty-four years later,
Priscilla Anderson, the trainer for Floyd Williams, a
middleweight, shocked the Chicago audience when she put
Williams through his paces. Even though she was unknown
to crowd in Chicago, Wendell Smith of the Courier
commented that Priscilla was renowned in other cities and
held a trainer's license in two states and the District of
Columbia. One of her fighters, Willie Cheatum, felt that
she knew "as much about fighters as any trainer in the
business."42 93
Priscilla had both the support of her father and spouse. Her involvement in boxing was a family affair.
She trained the fighters, while her father managed them.
Her husband who worked on the railroad also participated.
Frequently, he recruited boxers to work with his wife and father-in-law. However, for business purposes, Mrs. L.E.
(Priscilla) Fulbright used her maiden name.
Priscilla's love for boxing started at an early age and continued even after five years of marriage. She stated during an interview, "I've been interested in
fighters ever since I was five ... been around them all my
life and I guess if I'd been a boy I would have been a
fighter."43 She also revealed that since she did not have
any children, working as a trainer fulfilled her "motherly
instinct."
Priscilla was not the lone female involved in boxing.
A story originating from Los Angeles identified two women
champions who toured the country.44
Accounts of basketball, tennis and track ("Big
Three")appeared most frequently in both paper. Bowling,
golf and sport management constituted the second tier of
activities. These activities ranked among the top six
sporting activities reported in both papers. An analysis
of the latter three activities further illuminated the
magnitude and popularity of the "Big Three."
Collectively, these six activities totalled nearly 85 94
(1504 of 1741) and 89 (686 of 771) percent of the coverage
in the Defender and the Courier, respectively for the
subperiod.
THE STYLE OF COVERAGE
The coverage of women in sports was similar to that
given to the men. News items generally contained
information about the site of the event, the hometown and
other background information on the team, participant and
event, a description of the action, key individuals and
other participants such coaches, manager or owners.
Occasionally, both papers printed stories and photographs
about women, exclusively. However, the majority of
stories and some of the pictures contains men and women.
The investigator indexed each newspaper item to denote the
orientation; that is, news about women only or those
reporting information about men and women.
The content of the stories about women in sports in
both papers stressed athletic performance and achievement
rather than gender roles. Frequently, they included Miss
or Mrs. before the female athlete's name and referred to
women as maidens, lassies or girls. The investigator did
not perceive this practice as sexism. It is a common
practice for journalists to distinguish between males and
females within printed media. Even though it is less
common and popular today, women's names are frequently
reported as Ms., Mrs. or Miss. Since several of the male 95 names corresponded to those of females and the content of sporting activities coincided with that reported for men, the investigator welcomed the usage of these references to facilitate the identification of sporting activities including women.
The usage of feminine traits such as attractive, charming and pretty or references to the parents or spouses of women was recorded as sexist remarks regardless of the content.46 sexist bulletins rarely appeared in
either publication. As shown in Table 9, there was no
systematic oppression of women in the sports section of
the Negro Press. Less than one percent of all the
bulletins appearing in either paper focused on gender
rather than sport (unfavorable). The remaining sexist
accounts (balanced) depicted at worst a mixed message
about sport and gender. There was 36 such reports in the
Courier and 141 in the Defender.
These items characterized as sexist marked the
presence of a specific variable rather than an
interpretation of the content. It should be noted that
bulletins containing data labelled as sexist, seldom
negated the athletic ability and performance of the
individual or team. Even the most blatant example of
sexism appearing in the Courier, which was released by the
Associated Negro Press, attempted to identify a 1932
Olympic hopeful. The news release stated that there would 96
Table 9.
Orientation for basketball, tennis, golf, bowling, track and management in the Courier and in the Defender
PITTSBURGH COURIER
Orient Basket Bowl Manage ation ball Tennis Golf ing Track ment
Women Only 152 31 28 71
All Others 96 161 38 68 31
TOTAL 248 192 66 7 139 34 36.15 27.99 9.62 1.02 20.26 4.96
N=686
SUMMARY
Women Only 289 42.13 All Others 397 57.87
Grand Total 686 100.00
CHICAGO DEFENDER
Orient- Basket- Bowl- Manage- ation ball Tennis Golf ing Track ment
Women Only 235 52 38 62 154
All Others 190 314 149 56 162 85
TOTAL 425 366 187 118 316 92 28.26 24.34 12.43 7.85 21.01 6.12
N=1504 97
Table 9. (Continued)
SUMMARY
Women Only 548 36.44 All Others 956 63.56
Grand Total 1504 100.00 98
Associated Negro Press, attempted to identify a 1932
Olympic hopeful. The news release stated that there would be "at least one Sunkist Maid participating in the Olympic games ... Miss Jessie Rayford, who resides with her parents on the west side. Jessie is the only daughter, a pretty girl, devoted to athletic sports." This summary with a photograph failed to provide relevant information about Jessie's specific sporting activities. Instead it generalized about Jessie's athletic ability, her aspirations, her physical beauty and the fact that she lived with her parents. Nevertheless, the release mentioned that Miss Rayford, would be vying for "athletic honors to the race."4? Frequently, this theme of achievement and success for the race as a whole emerged in narratives about interracial competition.
Generally, the identification of spouses or parents of females has been perceived as sexist, since journalists rarely provided this information for males. In the opinion of the investigator, it is inappropriate to consider this practice sexist without examining the
context of the usage, even though it was recorded as such
in this study. The Defender frequently included the name
of parents or spouse. Oftentimes, these individuals were
usually involved in sports or held a prominent position in
society. When reporting on the accomplishments of Jessie
Abbott, both papers usually mentioned that she was the 99 daughter of Cleve Abbott, the director of Physical
Education and Athletics at Tuskegee Institute.
The following example from the Defender illustrates a typical summary involving a spouse:
Mrs. Vivian Pitts, wife of Major Anderson Pitts of the 184th field artillery, Illinois National Guard, was crowned champion of the second annual closed tournament of Chicago Women's Golf club, Sunday, October 13, at Palos Hills golf course. Mrs. Pitts and Mrs. Cleo Ball, wife of Pat Ball, pro at the Palos Hills, tied with 94 at the end of 18 holes. In the playoff for the title, Mrs. Pitts shot 24 for five holes, four strokes under Mrs. B a l l . 48
These accounts like many others printed in both papers
reported the participants, the event and performance
rather than spotlighting the spouse or parents. Similar
passages appeared in stories written about other
sportswomen including Mrs. Agnes Lawson, Mrs. Cleve
Abbott, Cleo Ball, and Effa Manley.
The remaining two categories for orientation, neutral
and favorable, constituted a minimum of 90 percent of the
total coverage in either paper. They exemplified the
typical content and treatment of women in sports. Neutral
items depicted the accounts in these papers as stressing
straightforward sport reporting regardless of the sex.
Those designated as favorable reflected a supportive bias
toward the athlete. Frequently, these stories identified
outstanding performers, their previous achievements as
well as results of their most recent accomplishments. The
depth and quantity of information provided can be seen in 100 any of the items about the Philadelphia Tribune Girls,
Tuskegee’s Women's Varsity Track and Field Team, Ora
Washington or any of the host of teams and athletes.49
PRODUCTION OF THE MEDIA
Orientation of the News
Sport Columns about women, only
Each bulletin was coded to indicate the orientation
of the news. Some newspaper items featured information
only about women, while others contained materials
pertaining to both sexes. Occasionally, both publications
featured a column designated for women, entitled "women's
athletics," "women's sports" or featured items about a
specific sport reporting only women's activities. Half of
the Chicago paper's sixteen columns that fell into this
category appeared in 1942. Strikingly, seven of these
eight items featured bowling, track and field was the
other. Between 1924 and 1948 the Pittsburgh paper
published twelve columns; however, only one item appeared
during the subperiod. Incidentally, eight of the twelve
items featured in this category provided information or
standings on the Pittsburgh Courier's Basketball League.5°
Newspaper items exclusivelv about women
Track bulletins failed to emerge as the largest
proportion of items among the "Big Three" about women
exclusively in either paper during the subperiod (Table 101
8) . It achieved second place in the Courier with slightly more than half of its 139 items being devoted to women,
only. Basketball ranked first. Slightly more than 60
percent of the Courier's 243 basketball accounts and 55
percent of the Defender's 425 featured women, only.
Surprisingly, the number of bowling bulletins solely about
women also exceeded that of track in the Chicago paper
(Table 8). Bowling finished a close second to basketball
in the Defender and golf was third in the Courier.
Sex of the writers
Overwhelmingly, men were the editors and writers of
the sport pages. Women wrote 35 stories in the Chicago
paper and substantially less appear in the Pittsburgh
paper. However, only eight of the Courier's nineteen
articles written by women appeared during the Bars, 1932
through 1948.51 Despite the control by males writers,
there was an absence of blatant sexism in the Negro Press.
This is not surprising, since race was a greater barrier
within society for Negroes regardless of gender.
Therefore, individual achievements regardless of the sex
reflected positively on the Race.
Negro journalists reported city-wide and other
interracial competitions as well as those pertaining to
blacks, only. Although they reported feats of the
sportswomen in a variety of sporting activities, those
relating to track and field such Tuskegee winning the AAU 102
National Track Championships and Pickett and Stokes making women's Olympic track team were probably the most visible in both the Daily and Negro publications. In one episode, a less than desirable performance yielded stern criticism from these papers. Prior to the 1948 Olympic
Games, the Courier speculated about the success of the women in London.5% Of the twelve female athletes, nine of these women were Negroes. However, only two women, Alice
Coachman who won the high jump and Audrey Patterson managed to place among the top six competitors during the
Games.
The editor of the Pittsburgh paper, Wendell Smith, rebuked the American sprinters for their poor performances in the article, "Performance of U.S. Women in the Dashes is Disappointing." In his opinion, "the United States lassies would dominate the woman from other parts of the world, but it hasn’t happen that way." From his perspective, the women were the "biggest disappointed of the Olympics so far. In contrast the Chicago paper bulletins were less negative.54
Aside from Tuskegee Institute Women's Track Team and
the Philadelphia Tribune Girls, the writers praised the
accomplishments of women participating among and against
non-black opponents. Some of the most noteworthy
individuals were Ora Washington, tennis and basketball;
Mary Lou Ford, badminton; Inez Patterson, swimming; Mabel 103
Fairbanks, ics skating; Louise Stokes, Tydie Pickett, Jean
Lane and Alice Coachmen in track and field.55
Sports contributed to the breakdown of racial prejudice by illuminating the achievements of blacks when they had the opportunity to compete with or against whites as well as among themselves. Thus, the accomplishments of all blacks in the athletic arena extended beyond the individual to Race. Prior to the selection of the Olympic
Team of 1936, Fay Young of the Defender projected that the
1936 Olympics more so than any other event "figures to show off the Race athlete in a big w a y . "56 Tydie Picket and Louise Stokes were among the Negro athletes winning berths on the women’s track squad. Participation in an event such as the Olympics yielded both national and international acclaim for the Negro community. These athletic feats whether by males or females generated jubilation and pride for all Negroes, while reporting the
1936 Olympic Trials, Charlotte Guilliard, a writer for the
Defender, spoke of the optimism in the black community as a whole, when Negro men secured 10 of the 12 positions on the track Team.5? The success of the female athletes in sports also contributed to this optimism in sports and in the community.
In 1929 Cleve Abbott established a women’s track and field team at Tuskegee Institute, so that the women would have an opportunity to be recognized along with the men. 104
The women from Tuskegee Institute and other black females made their mark not only in tournaments sponsored in the black community, but many achieved both national and international recognition through the AAU Nationals and the Olympic Games. However, athletes in tennis, golf, bowling and swimming did not have the opportunity to compete at the national level against whites, since most of these governing bodies prohibited interracial competition.
The Writers
The sporting experiences of the writers as well as the attitudes of blacks in general contributed to the positive coverage of women in sports. Former national tennis champion, Edgar G. Brown, generally reported tennis between the two World Wars, while DeHart Hubbard, a national and an Olympic champion in track wrote about this
sport in his column, "Color Line". When these athletes wrote about an event, they usually focused on the
fundamental skills needed to exploit the opponent's
weakness. Other well-known writers and editors of the
Courier included Cum Posey, Chester L. Washington, Wendell
Smith, Edgar T. Rouzeau, William Nunn, W. H. Forsythe,
George M. Bell, W. Rolle Wilson and many others. Many of
these individuals were former athletes or were actively
involved through affiliation with either a men's or
women's team. Among the Defender writers were F. A. Young, 105 the editor, and Sam Taylor, the track coach at Prairie
View.
During the period, 1924-1948, women wrote at least four or five by-lines in the Courier. Even though it had several women on its staff, only Miss Bernice Deutrieulle generally wrote for the sport pages.On the other hand, the Defender had a female writer as the bowling editor as well as several other women who reported on this sport.59
Mrs. Zelda Hines, the women's bowling editor for the
Chicago paper, was one of the top females in her league prior to being hospitalized. She wrote a regular column
featuring the summaries for men and women.
Frequently, the boxing stories written from the
feminine perspective conformed to traditional images of
women and failed to present the "true flavor of the
action" in the ring. Therefore, sexist remarks about
women appeared more often in these reports than in
articles written by men about women participating in
sports. By-lines and other news items written by women
about basketball and bowling were much more positive and
focused on the event. Sometimes a member of a team, or
the owner, provided a story or letter. As noted earlier,
one woman submitted a proposal to the editor of the
Courier to establish a softball league for women similar
to that of the Negro National League for men. 106
ENDNOTES
1. For the subperiod the years shared by both papers, 1932-1948, each newspaper published approximately 884 issues. The investigator read 96 percent (848) of the total issues in the Courier and 99 percent (882) of those for the Defender. Although only two issues were missing from the Defender, about four percent (36) of the papers in the Courier were not read. A technical error in the duplication of the microfilm eliminated access to all of the papers between Feb 3, and Aug 24, 1940, inclusive and another six issues were missing.
2. Defender. 14 September 1940.
3. John R. Betts, America's Sporting Heritage. 1850- 1950 (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1974), 247-272. Benjamin Rader, American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Spectators (Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983),
4. The years 1932-1934, inclusive, represented the top three years in descending order, while 1935 and 1936 finished tenth and seventh, respectively, in greatest coverage.
5. Tennis was reported most frequently for the years, 1940 through 1942. Track ranked second in 1940, tied for third with bowling in 1942 and finished third in 1942. Golf was second in 1942.
6. Defender.7 July 1940, 16 January 1943, 31 August 1946 (Cancellation of international competition); l and 8 May 1943 (athletes in the service and reduction of sporting activities); 18 April, 25 July 1942 (reduction of sporting activities); 27 December 1941 (Jean Lane).
7. Accounts of men's boxing, football, baseball and track and field frequently appeared on the front page. Between 1924 and 1948, several Negroes including Joe Louis, Jessie Owens, Jackie Robinson and various other athletes in collegiate football and track appeared on the front page.
8. Courier. 21, August, 1948; 11 September, 1948. See, also Defender. 21 August, 1948; 11 September, 1948. 107
9. For information on the press and Negro athletes during national and international competition see, David K. Wiggins, "The 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin; The Response of America's Black Press," Research Quarterly for Exercise and Snort. 54 (1983) : 278- 292. See also, Edwin B. Henderson, The Negro in Sports. rev. ed., (Washington, D.C.: The Associated Publishers, 1949).
10. For information about the success of the black sportswomen in track and field at both the national and international level, see "Track and Field: The Strongest Suit," in Marianne W. Davis, ed., The Contributions of Black Women to America Vol. I (Columbia, SC: Kenday Press Inc., 1981), 512-553; Ed Temple, Onlv the Pure in Heart (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1980); Nolan A. Thaxton, "A Documentary Analysis of Competitive Track and Field for Women at Tuskegee Institute and Tennessee State University," (Ph.D. Dissertation: Springfield College, Springfield, MA, 1970).
11. Defender. 2 October 1937 (track); 27 August, 10 September 1938 (golf).
12. Ibid., 30 August 1941.
13. Courier. 30 August 1941.
14. The term "Big Three" refers to basketball, tennis and track. These were the most prevalent sports for the years studied for both papers.
15. Track for women was added in 1928. Exhibition matches in tennis were played in 1924 and again in 1984.
16. Thaxton, "A Documentary Analysis," 1970.
17. Defender. 31 July, 1948.
IS. Ibid.. 9 May 1936.18.
19. Courier. 9 September 1925.
20. Ibid, 16, 23, 30 January 1926; 6 February 1926.
21. Ibid.
22. Courier and Defender. 6 November 1943.
23. Defender. 22 February 1936. 108
24. Courier. 18, August 1928.
25. Defender. 31 August 1946.
26. Ibid.. 31 August 1940.
27. Ibid.. 25 May 1935.
28. Courier. 11 January, 1947.
29. Ibid.. 11 September 1948.
30. Defender. 24 February, 2 March, 1940; 30 January 1943. See also. Courier. 11 January 1947.
31. Defender. 26 July 1947.
32. Courier. 17 July 1948.
33. Defender. 15 March 1924.
34. Courier. 11 August 1945.
35. Defender. 24 May 1924.
36. Recognizing that horse racing is an expensive sport, it is very conceivable that the females who owned stables or race horse were white. However, since this study focuses on all women in sports, the investigator has deliberately avoided identifying non-black individuals unless the newspaper printed the specific information.
37. Defender. 2 April 1938.
38. Ibid.. 27 September 1938.
39. Courier. 5, 12 February 1944.
40. Ibid.. 15 May 1948.
41. Ibid. 9 March 1924.
42. Ibid.. 15 May 1948.
43. Ibid.
44. Defender. 2 October 1948.
45. The orientation of the stories will be discussed further in the section on the production of the media. 109
46. In the coding process these variables were designated as sexist remarks. See the Appendix for a complete listing of items. These variables were designated as sexism to standardize the coding procedure and to facilitate replication. If a newspaper item contained one of more of these variables then it was designated as sexist. This label was assigned based solely on the presence of a variable rather than content. Items labelled as sexism are further examined to determine direction based on the content of the bulletin. Some items are identified as sexist such as the inclusion of the parents or the status of the spouses maybe inappropriate. This formation can be used later to study demographics or to examine the sporting activities of the family. Occasionally, reference was also make to the parents of boys.
47. Courier. 1 September 1928.
48. Defender. 26 October 1940.
49. For Tuskegee women's track see, Courier. 8 July 1944. For specific stories on the other sports or individuals see the timeline in Appendix B.
50. These issue reported bowling in Defender during 1942; 31, January; 21 February; 14, 21, March; 11, 18, 25, April and 16 May. For information on the Courier's basketball league see 16, 23, 30 January 1926; 6 February, 1926.
51. Courier. 18 February 1933; 11 April 36; 17 July 37; 22 January and 28 May 1938; 25 September 1943; 11 August 1945; 11 August 1948.
52. Ibid.. 24 July, 1948.
53. Ibid, 7, 21 August, 1948.
54. Defender. 31 July 1948.
55. For specific articles, refer to the timeline provided in the appendix.
56. Defender. 7 March 1936.
57. Defender. 25 July 1936.
58. Courier. 1 December 1928. 110
59. Defender. 22 November 1941; December 1941. Several women were identified as reporters and wrote stories for the Defender. They included Marian Downer(1937), Zelda Hines, Marge McAbee(1942), Valena Minor(1942), Mrs. Tommie Seay and Willie B. Harmon(44) to name a few. CHAPTER V
RECAPTURING THE PAST THROUGH THE NEGRO PRESS:
A LOOK BEYOND THE DAILY PRESS
Generally, both women and blacks have suffered from invisibility in American history. The history of both the
Negro in sports and sportswomen has suggested that women in competitive athletics were atypical and that black women excelled only in track and field. This study examined women, an oppressed group in society, from the perspective of Negroes, a minority group within society.
By examining the Negro Press, it provided an alternative perspective and integrated that perspective on women into
sport history.
Every issue of two Negro weeklies, the Pittsburgh
Courier and the Chicago Defender was studied for a
prolonged period. Four factors relating to the amount of
coverage given to women were analyzed: the extent of
coverage, the type of coverage and page location, the
style of coverage, and the production of the media. The
Negro Press exhibited a more favorable attitude toward the
sportswoman than previous research depicted.
Ill 112
The Negro Press was a source of information for examining the sporting activities of women during this period, but it also provided information about the attitudes of Negroes toward women. Similar to other media, these newspapers reflected the attitudes of those who controlled it, who were Negroes. Thus, Negro publications reported occurrences that were of interest to its owners and the Negro community. It also served as an advocate for racial equality, crusading against segregation and racial discrimination in both sport and in
American society. Since society perceived Negroes as
"second class citizens," it was essential for the press to promote racial solidarity. This social and economic
oppression of Negroes in society regardless of class or
gender forced blacks leaders to champion the achievements
of an individual as a victory for the entire race. These
endeavors and accomplishments illustrated the Negro's
ability to be capable and successful not only among
themselves but within society as a whole.
The Negro Press, within the context of its racially-
oriented agenda, expressed attitudes towards sportswomen.
While it documented the presence of the diverse array of
activities including badminton, basketball, bowling, golf,
softball, swimming, and tennis as well as track and field,
it favorably reported women's participation in sporting
activities that have been generally restricted to men. 113
The Negro Press took note of women's involvement in boxing, auto racing, men's baseball and men's basketball.
Stories in the Negro papers generally highlighted outstanding performers, their previous achievements and provided information about upcoming events or their most recent accomplishments.
The Negro Press offered factual information and demonstrated attitudinal biases by using many, possibly unintended, approaches. Most important was the amount of
coverage. Although the coverage of women was never equal
to that given to men, both the Pittsburgh Courier and the
Chicago Defender generally reported descriptions of
women's sporting activities and even sponsored women's
athletic leagues and tournaments. The Pittsburgh Courier
published 1408 bulletins on women's sport during the 25
year span. The Chicago Defender contained 1741 references
about sportswomen between 1932 and 1948. The Defender's
coverage of women's athletics more than doubled the 771
bulletins published in the Courier between 1932 and 1948.
Both newspapers reported stories about basketball and
tennis more frequently than track and field.
The Defender and the Courier stressed straightforward
sport reporting regardless of the sex of the athlete.
Each reported news exclusively about women as well as
providing some coverage in a column entitled "Women's
Sports" or "Women's Athletics." Overall, the Defender 114 published more stories, provided more depth, and printed more background information than the Courier. The Chicago paper also covered a greater number of sports. These featured local and inter-city rivalries and also reported national events. These Negro newspapers documented the existence of a diverse and popular culture for sportswomen during the period.
They also Also, used various types of newspaper items to report a variety of women's sporting activities.
Frequently, the papers gave prime space, articles above the fold and use of photographs, to promote the sporting activities of women. The happenings of the sportswoman were not relegated to the back pages of the sport section.
The proportion of news on the first page of the sport
section exceeds those on the second page by nearly ten percent in both papers. More than half or 398 items of
the Courier' coverage on sportswomen occurred on the first
page of the sports section. In the Defender 818 bulletins
appeared in this location. Of the news reported about
women in sports, 92 percent in the Pittsburgh paper and 85
percent in the Chicago paper for the subperiod (1932-
1948) occurred on pages one and two of the sport section.
For the most part, the sport section generally consisted
of two pages.
Both papers had female writers on their staff, even
though the editors and the vast majority of the writers 115 were men. Despite this fact, some blatant sexism was evident in both newspapers. Reference to gender role, the identification of parents or spouses, and the use of adjectives such as attractive, beautiful, charming and pretty occurred in less than ten percent of the articles in either paper. The content of the articles focused on athletic performance and achievement rather than gender roles. Apparently, the editors in the Negro papers valued the accomplishments of women and thus assigned writers to cover them. Some factor other than sex must have influ enced the reporting and attention to women in the sport section.
Implications
By reporting women's participation in "country club"
sports such as golf and tennis, the Press provided upper
class role models for young people and emphasized existing
class distinctions within the Negro community. Sport was
both an athletic and social event within the colored
community. Success in athletics appeared to override
class differences. Frequently, the black middle class
promoted sporting activities among adults for recreation
and among youth to produce new champions in sports. The
number and the frequency of stories in the Chicago paper
indicated that the period between the Depression and the
pre-war years did not appear to alter the sporting
activities of this group. 116
As a result, future investigations may explore the following questions regarding this middle class black population. Who were these affluent Negroes?; How did they attain their wealth and social status within the community? Where did they obtain their knowledge and skills in various sporting events and how did they perceive and treat those who were less fortunate than themselves?
The division in coverage between "Women's Athletics" columns and jointly reported articles hinted at an ambivalence toward the overly dichotomized view of sports
for women held by white society. Because the Negro Press mobilized around race, gender separation may have been
considered harmful or at least less important than racial
solidarity. Women were first and foremost athletes in the
sport pages. Their performances at local, inter-city,
national, or interracial competitions were more than a
personal achievement. It reflected the success of the
team, the town, and the desire for all Negroes to succeed
when given the opportunity.
The use of women writers in the Defender showed a
willingness for owners and publishers in the Negro Press
to include women in the reporting process. This shared
power was in marked contrast to the situation in the daily
press. The Chicago paper had a female bowling editor who
reported both men's and women's results. It also had 117 several other female writers for bowling and a few other sports. These women wrote stories about the actual sporting event and did not editorialize from a feminine perspective. Generally, they did not emphasize the social atmosphere of the event or feature an interview with an athlete's spouse or parents. The editors in the Negro
Press also valued women's athletics since they assigned writers to cover various sporting activities. The coverage of women's athletics was treated as a regular sports feature within the newspaper, rather than an item about national or international champions. In addition to stories involving competition among women only, the
Defender's sport editor occasionally wrote stories of both men's and a women's participation at co-ed competitions such as the Tuskegee Relays and the national tennis tournament.
The Negro Press occasionally reported women's athletic endeavors in the broader context of family and community. Not only did this provide continuity in the story of the development of dynasties in women's sporting
activities (see Appendix B), but it "normalized" women
athletes by showing them as family members. These women pioneers and champions included such stars as Mrs. C.O.
Seames, Ora Washington, and Lula Ballard in tennis; Jean
Lane of Wilberforce, Jessie Abbott and the Tuskegee
Institute Women in track and field; Inez Patterson in 118 swimming; Cleo Ball and Lucy Williams in golf; Priscilla
Anderson in boxing; and Mrs. Effa Manley in baseball.
Some athletes such as Ora Washington, Lula Ballard, Inez
Patterson, Jessie Abbott participated in a variety of sports activities and achieved success.
This study represents only a small portion of a task that needs much more analysis. Both the frequency and the amount of bulletins indicated similarities and differences between the Courier and the Defender. The question arises as to whether these two Negro newspapers were representative of the Negro Press? Was the coverage and content of the news, regional? How did the size and location of the paper as well as the site of the sporting events influence the coverage? Initially, the
investigator planned to analyze three papers (the
Pittsburgh Courier, the Chicago Defender, and the Atlanta
World, representing the east, mid-west, and the south) for
a period of 25 years and another four newspapers only
during the Olympic Years. The intent was to gather data
to support or refute conclusions as to whether these
papers represented the Negro Press in general. In future
studies the number of papers examined should be increased.
A comparison of Negro newspapers to Daily newspapers in
the same city or region is also needed.
Several other topics need examination. Perhaps the
most useful would be an analysis of the individual 119 sporting events. A comparison of coverage during the
Olympic Years and non-Olympic years in other newspapers may shed more light on the most frequently reported activities. Since racial discrimination and the economy have been perceived as a factor in restricting the participation of blacks in sports for the affluent, such as tennis, golf, ice skating and equestrianism, an investigation of demographics, the participant's economic base, and their mentors is needed. An examination of the newspaper's owner(s), the sport's editor and writers would be beneficial also. Other possible topics might include a study of interracial competition, regionalism or sponsorship of leagues and other promotions of women's athletics by newspapers, other businesses, and
individuals.
Conclusions
The coverage in the Negro Press portrayed sportswomen
in an array of the sporting activities and roles. These
activities included archery, basketball, badminton, bowling, mushball, softball, swimming and track and field
as well as country club sports such as golf, tennis and
horse back riding. The sportswoman's role extended beyond
that of a participant. Frequently she coached women's or
men's teams, managed boxers or owned baseball teams or
racing horses. Both newspapers published more stories
about basketball and tennis than track and field. 120
Although the number of basketball stories exceeded all other sports, the page location and the type of newspaper items for tennis coverage indicated that it had more prominence and prestige.
Stories on sportswomen in the Negro Press was significant for several reasons. The Negro Press was not only a viable source of information for examining the sporting activities of the period, but it provided insights about the attitudes of Negroes toward women.
These newspapers portrayed sportswomen first and foremost as athletes. They acknowledged and recognized the skill and performance of the participant rather than emphasizing gender. Frequently, both papers sponsored tournaments and leagues for women's teams in basketball, bowling, and softball. These newspapers extended their reporting of sports beyond men's professional, amateur and collegiate sports.
This study demonstrated that Gerda Lerner's "built-in distortion" still exists today, since the role of women and blacks has been defined and restricted by white males.1 In order to establish a better understanding of women in sports, we need to examine primary sources of
other minority and racial subgroups within America.
Several areas remain to be examined: We need to know who
these women were and their achievements in history. How
did the experience of these women compare to women outside 121 their culture and to men within their own culture? The experiences of groups unstudied and differences across race and class must be studied and integrated into
American history to gain greater insight into the meaning of sports for women. 122
ENDNOTES
1. Gerda Lerner, The Majority Finds Its Past; Placing Women in History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), p. 160. APPENDIX A
SYSTEM FOR CODING DATA
Publication Data
(1-2) Alpha 1 Chicago Defender (CD) 2 Pittsburg Courier (PC)
(4) (4) (5) (6) EDITION FREQUENCY WRITER PULL
0 not given 0 not given 0 none 0 no 1 national 1 weekly 1 male 1 yes 2 city/local 2 daily 2 female 3 regional 3 semi 3 photo 4 special/ weekly extra other 5 star edition 6 home edition
(7-8) (9-10) (11-12) (13) (14)
MONTH DATE YEAR COVERAGE PAGE LOCATION
1 Jan 00 20 0 no 1 1st sport page 2 Feb 11 31 1 yes 2 2nd sport page 3 Mar 22 42 2 other 3 3rd sport page 4 Apr 33 3 3 personal 4 subsequential 5 May 4 4 notes pages 6 Jun 5 5 4 missing 5 front page 7 Jul 6 6 6 none of the 8 Aug 7 7 above 9 Sept 8 8 10 Oct 9 9 11 Nov 12 Dec
123 124
TYPE OF COVERAGE (NEWSPAPER ITEMS)
(0- 0- 0)
(15) NEWS ITEMS
0 none 1 articles with no identifying label above fold line 2 articles with no identifying label below fold line 3 editorials: letters to the editors, expressions of the newspaper that ware "one shot" deals 4 by-lines: staff writer or other identified as the author not a regular feature 5 columns designated for specific sports such as basketball or tennis, exclusively 6 repeating columns: columns appearing regularly; written by the editor or staff writers, exclusing those designated above 7 wire services: news items from the Associated Negro Press (ANP) or other wire services 8 wire services with a by-line
(16) PHOTOGRAPHS
0 none 1 photograph, only 2 photograph with a caption 3 photograph with a news item
(17) ILLUSTRATIONS
0 none 1 illustration, only 2 illustration with a caption 3 illustration with a news item 125
(18-19) Alpha TOPIC OF COVERAGE
AC ARCHERYEX EXTRACURRICULAR PP POLICIES OR AR AUTO RACING FS FISHING PRACTICES AT ATTENDANCE/FANS HI HIKING TN TENNIS BB BASKETBALL HR HORSE RACING TR TRACK BI BILLIARDS AL AWARD LETTERS SB SOFTBALL BM BADMINTON LD LADIES DAY SW SWIMMING BO BOWLING IC ICE SKATING SP SPOUSE BX BOXING LG LONG BALL TS TRAPSHOOT- CB COMBINATION MT MANAGEMENT ING CO CO-EDS MB MUSHBALL GO GOLF OR CROQUET PE PHYSICAL ED LA LACROSSE CS COACHING SCHOOL RB REPORTING NA NOT GIVEN
(23) ROLE OF THE PARTICIPANT
1 player, athlete 2 coach/teacher of same sex 3 coach/teacher same sex and player 4 coach/manager of different sex 5 owner 6 athlete on men's team 7 other
(24) ORIENTATION OF STORY
1 women, only 2 lead off about women, but included men 3 lead off about men, but included women 4 general; no preference for males or females
(25) SITE/LOCATION OF STORY
City, State (26-30) Alpha 126
(30) LEVEL OF COMPETITION
0 not given 1 high school/training school 2 recreational 3 amateur/community 4 collegiate 5 high school and collegiate 6 collegiate and amateur 7 professional 8 other excluding high school and club 9 high school and club
(31) RACIAL/ETHNIC MIXTURE
1 Negroes, only 2 Negro(es) competing on white team 3 predominantly white, only 1-2 Negroes or one Negro team 4 interracial (open); two or more Negroes or teams competing with whites 5 Caucasians, Negroes and other ethnic groups within America (for example: Hawaiian or Polish) 6 international competitors (foreigners included) 7 foreigners, only
SUBJECTIVE DIMENSION OF DATA (31-40)
FORMS OF DATA PRESENTED
a box results iv humorous or unusual b won-lost records anecdotes c previous accomplishments V dating habits d i crowd size vi skin tone and hair ii crowd support color e description of action vii female harming i key performance male ego ii special achievements viii use of lucky charms f sexist remarks ix comparison with (41-50) male athletes i marital status X controversy due to ii child-bearing poor performance: iii female stereotypes and individual failed gender roles to win 127
READER PERCEIVED QUALITIES OF DATA* (0-0-0)
(51) (52) STRENGTH-WEAKNESS MORAL-IMMORAL
1 health 1 truth 2 skill, ability & power 2 heroism 3 appropriate, suitable 3 loyalty
(53) DEFINABLE DESIRES IDENTIFIED BY PRESS (determined by quotations)
0 not given/other 1 money 2 love 3 athletic ability/worth 4 achievement/success 5 health 6 self-esteem 7 advancement 8 strength 9 large following/popularity and support
*Decided not to code this information for the data.
RACIAL OVERTONES RATIONALE FOR COVRAGE (54) (55)
0 no 0 no given 1 yes 1 discrimination/unfair 2 uniqueness 3 success 4 superiority 5 participant/news
TEAM CODES (56-57) Alpha
INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANTS (58)
0 none and name only occurred once 1 only one participant identified 2 two or more participants were identified
SEE TABLES FOR LIST OF TEAMS AND INDIVIDUAL PARTITIPANTS 128
(50-60) Alpha
TENNIS COMPETITIONS (61)
0 not given 1 National Negro Championship 2 U.S. National and or international tourney 3 Eastern Open or Sectional 4 Southern Open (1st held 1930 at Tuskegee) 5 Southeastern (Established in 1925) 6 State championship or opening excluding New York and New Jersey 7 "Cockburn Cup" - competition among New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania 8 competitions sponsored or held in New York and New Jersey excluding the nationals 9 other such as city and local competitions
NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS IN PHOTOGRAPH
FEMALE MALE (62-63) (62-6
00 00 11 11 22 22 33 33 44 44 55 55 66 66 77 77 88 88 99 99
SUMMARY OF EACH NEWSPAPER ITEM (66-80) APPENDIX B
PARTIAL TIMELINE OF MAJOR SPORTING ACTIVITIES
TENNIS 1905 Mrs. C. O. Seames of Chicago started playing tennis, actively. 1916 American Tennis Association (ATA) established. Lucy D. Slowe, first female champion.^ 1917 Site - Baltimore: Lucy D. Slowe of Baltimore.% 1918 Site - New York: M. Rae of Jamaica, B.W.I. 1919 Site - New York: M. Rae of Jamaica, B.W.I. 1920 Site - New York: M. Rae of Jamaica, B.W.I. 1921 Site - Washington, D.C.: Lucy D. Slowe of Baltimore. 1922 Site - Philadelphia: Isadore Channels of Chicago 1923 The New Jersey Tennis Association, an affiliate of the ATA was incorportated. Site - Chicago: Isadore Channels of Chicago 1924 Site - Baltimore: Isadore Channels of Chicago Alvetta Macellus of Plainfield ranked number one among New Jersy women. Dorothy Radcliffe of Chicago's Prairie Tennis Club finished second to Isadore Channels at the Midwestern Tourney held at Wilberforce. 1925 Site - Bordentown: Lula Ballard of Philadelphia 1926 Site - St. Louis: Isadore Channels of Chicago 1927 Site - Hampton Institute: Lula Ballard of Philadelphia 1928 Site - Bordentown: Lula Ballard of Philadelphia 1929 Site - Bordentown: Ora Washington of Philadelphia 1930 Site - Indianapolis: Ora Washington of Philadelphia 1931 Site - Tuskegee Institute: Ora Washington of Philadelphia Cleve Abbott of Tuskegee Institute established Junior singles Tournament 1932 Site - Scotch Plains: Ora Washington of Philadelphia Improvement of facilities at Shady Rest Country Club for Nationals.
129 130
11th Annual "Class B" Tournament for the development of new and promising players. 1933 Site - Hampton Institute: Ora Washington of Philadelphia 1934 Site - Lincoln University, Pa: Ora Washington of Philadelphia 1935 Site - West Virginia State College, Ora Washington also captured several singles' championships including the Nationals, the Southeastern Open Sectional, the New York Open, and the Middle Athletic Open. Lula Ballard, runner-up at the Nationals won the Souhtern Association Open.3 Mr. C. 0. Seames established home for Midwestern Tennis Association. 1936 Site - Wilberforce: Lula Ballard of Philadelphia Flora Lomax of Detriot defeated Mrs. Belson to win the women's Grass Tennis Championship held at Washington Park in C h i c a g o . * Tillotson's College for Women of Austin, Texas held its second annual Intramural tennis championship.5 The 14th annual North Carolina State Championship will be held at the Algonquin Tennis Club of Durham. For the past two years, this club has sponsored an open tourney for juniors during July.® 1937 Site - Tuskegee Institute: Ora Washington of Philadelphia Flora Lomax and Williams H. Hall of Louisville, mixed doubles. 1938 Site - Lincoln University, Pa.: Flora Lomax of Detroit 1939 Flora Lomax of Detroit, Champion Peters Sisters, Doubles 1940 Site - Wilberforce: Mrs. Agnes Lawson, Prairie View; Kathryn Jones, Tuskegee Institute, runner- up. (62 women entries) Flora Lomax and William H. Hall, mixed doubles. 1941 1942 NO COVERAGE OF NATIONALS IN THE COURIER. 1943 Ora Washington ranked llth among Greatest Colored Athletes.® ATA ranking, but no results of Nationals in the Courier. 1944 1945 1946 Mary Harwicke and Charles Hare played exhibition games at the Nationals. 131
1947 The state of ?Georgia resumed the state championships for boys and girls in tennis and track and field, for the first time since the war. 9 1948
GOLF
1926 United Golf Association (UGA) sponsored its first national championship. 1930 First year that Negroes competed in UGA. Marie Thompson of Chicago champion; Mrs. Lucy Williams of Indianapolis, runner-up. Series of tournaments planned with prizes for both men and women. 1931 Site - Sunset Hills, Kankakee, II: Marie Thompson of Chicago; Lucy Williams, runner-up. 1932 Site - Douglas Park, Indianapolis: Mrs. Lucy Williams of Indianapolis; Marie Thompson, runner-up. 1933 Site “ Sunset Hills, Kankakee, II: Mrs. Julia Siler of St. Louis; Lucy Williams, runner-up. 1934 Site - Rancham Course, Detroit: Lucy Williams, runner-up. 1935 Site - Lake Mohancik, York Town Heights: Marie Thompson, Detroit, formerly of Chicago. 193 6 Site - Cobbs Creek, FI: Mrs. Lucy Williams of Indianapolis In a medal play handicapped event, Vivian Pitts finished first in the Midwest Golf Tourney. Shooting from scratch Cleo Ball won two honors.-- 1937 Site - Highland Park, Cleveland: Mrs. Lucy Williams of Indianapolis; Mrs. Aileen Davis of Detroit, runner-up. 1938 Site - Palos Park, Chicago: Miss Mel Moye of Atlanta; Mrs. Aileen Davis, runner-up. 1939 Site - Los Angeles: Mrs. Geneva Wilson of Chicago; Mrs. Aileen Davis, runner-up. 1940 Two national golf championships held in Chicago at Palos Hill within one week of each other at Palos Hills Course where the pro is Robert "Pat" Ball: The National Amateur Golf Association and the United Golf Association (AGA). The Chicago Women's Golf Club was the first women's club to host the national and amateur tournament of the UGA. Anna Black is president of the club. The UGA scheduled from August 20 through 23. Site - Palos Hill, Chicago: Mrs. Geneva Wilson of Chicago; Lucy Williams, runner-up. 132
Mrs. Vivian Pitts won the second annual closed tournament of the Chicago Women's Golf Club. Mrs. Cleo Ball, wife of Pat Ball, pro at Palos Hills, was finished second in the play-off against Mrs. Pitts.13 Tuskegee Golf Club promoted its first club tournament.14 Miss Mel Moye, the defending champion of the Southern Golf Crown retained her title. The Southern Intercollegiate Champion, Mrs. Theresa Howell, did not play.15 1941 Site - Boston: Mrs. Cleo Ball, her husband won the men's title.16 Site - Detroit: Marie T. Jones defeated the defending champion Vivian Pitts of Chicago for the AGA championship.17 The Intercollegiate Championships and the Second Interscholastic Golf Tourney sponsored by the UGA was held at Tuskegee Institute.1® 1946 Mrs. Mitchum, formerly Miss Williams, champ.
TRAPSHOOTING
1940 Site - St. Louis: Mrs. B. L. Offord of Chicago; Miss E. Haywood of St. Louis and Miss M. Merrit tied for second. Third Annual Trap & Skeet Tournament hosted by Present Day Club and Rod Club.
BADMINTON
1938 Mary Lou Ford of Chicago won Illinois State Y.M.C.A. 1939 Mary Lou Ford of Chicago won city-wide Y.M.C.A., llinois State Y.M.C.A., and National Y.M.C.A. 1940 Mary Lou Ford of Chicago won city-wide Y.M.C.A., third consective llinois State Y.M.C.A., (Marjorie Schiele of Irving Park, second) and National Y.M.C.A.19
BOWLING
1939 National Negro Bowling Association sponsored National tournament. 1940 Site - Cleveland: Second National Tournament sponsored by the National Negro Bowling 133
Association and hosted by the United and Progressive Bowling Leagues of Cleveland. The Cleveland Call-Post provided trophy for the team winner. Westfield Beauty Salon Team of Detroit, first; Portland Cleaners of Detriot, second; and Woodlawn Alcumes of Chicago, third in team competition. Doubles won by Sara Bessie Miller and Sarah Sturdivant, of Cleveland; M. Westfield and T. Baldwin, second.^0 The Chicago Women's Bowling League, the first of its kind in Chicago comprised of eight teams competed locally, inter-city and plan to participate in the national.21 Bill Sewell's Play Girls who lead the Windy City League issued a challenge to other women's teams.22 Mrs. Eulalia Gaines Hall, the top bowler on the Emmerell's team of Detroit, assist other women and her brother, Joe Louis, the heavyweight champion of the world in bowling.23 1946 Fifth Annual Bowling Championship for Men and Women. 1947 Exclusive Women's Bowling Tournament. 1948
SPORT MANAGEMENT
1904 Mrs. Lasca Burnell of Chicago,owner of Elmwood. became the first female winner at the Kentucky D e r b y . 2 4 1922 Maggie Riley hit 14 home runs and became known as the "female Babe Ruth".25 1924 Mrs. C. I. Taylor, widower of the late vice- president of the National Negro League (NNL), owns and operates the Indianapolis A.B.C's as the NNL begins its fifth season.26 The New York that featured Maggie Riley, plans to acquire Laura Johnson, of California, who earned $5000 playing first basemen with a men's team in Tacoma, Washington, last year.2? Black Gold's victory in first Golden Jubilee Derby earned Mrs. R. M. Hoots of Tulsa, Oklahoma the distinction of being the second women to own a Kentucky winner.28 Catherine Jefferson, a graduate of Kansas State, holds the distinction of being the first and only Negro to hold the position of gymnastic instructor.29 Bessie Prenty, a boxing promoter and ownere of the Golden Gate Athletic Club in Philadelphia, 134
sued the Pennsylvannia State Boxing Commission.30 1936 Ethel Mars, owner of the Milkyway Stables is the leading money winner among American women owners.3 i A leading trick rider, Alice Vann of Hollywood, enters the world of boxing as a manager by purchasing the contract of Jackie Vaquero.32 Isabel Dodge Sloane, owner of Brookmeade, plans to enter her horse Knight Gallant, in the Arlington Purity.33 1940 Seventeen years ago, the Indianapolis ABC's, owned by Mrs. C. I. Taylor, lead the NNL race. Effa Manley asserts herself in league policies advocating a league "for colored and by colored" and nominating a candidate for president. Her candidate, C. B. Powell, a New York physican and owner of Amsterdam News split votes among members.3^ 1943 Effa Manley played a key role in the movement of the Eagles from New York to Newark, New Jersey. 1944 Effa vocal at NNL meetings. 1945 Effa writes letter to editor explaining why the Eagles walked off the field. 1946 Courier reporter identified Effa as the "business manager and real boss" of the Newark Eagles.
SWIMMING
1924 Hawaiian girl makes Olympic team.(FN-Courier) 1930 Pauline Jackson, only black, entered in Mr. Wrigley's Catalina Island Swim. 1931 Women's World Championship held. Top prize $1000. Pauline Jackson dropped out one-half mile from finish. 1932 Negro National Swimming Championship at Lido Pool in New York. National Amateur Athletic Union policy opposed competition among blacks and whites. 1933 Sixth Annual Water Carnival and AAU Swimming Championship. 1943 Death of Otto Bridges who promoted Inez Patterson, a prominent swimmer.
BASKETBALL
1924 Undefeated this year the state champions, Kentucky Normal Women's Quintet, have compiled 135
an impressive record during the past five season lossing only three games.^5 Recently, established the Twentieth Century club of New York will sponsor a basketball team next season.36 The Y.W.C.A. awarded Harriet Eda Pickens of the 137th Street branch in New York a silver basketball in recognizition of her athletic ability. She competed in basketball, swimming, hiking and gymnastics.37 1925 Courier's Girls League opens in December. 1926 Courier's Girls League 1928 The Downington Industrial School initiated basketball for girls and they finished 6 and 9 for the season.38 1931 Germantown Hornets undefeated. Ora Washington, captain, and Lula Ballard another tennis player was also a member. Philadelphia Tribune Girls Team organized and the played by boy's rules. Ora Washington, captain. 1932 Holy Cross Women reorganized under the name of Brown Buddies Quintet. Death of Miss Alma King, 18, during high school game. 1933 Ora Washington, captain of the Tribune Girls, the National Colored Champions. Philly Flapper won llth straight victory defeating Lampeter from Lancaster, PA. 1935 Southern Tour planned by Tribune Girls. 1936 Ora Washington, former tennis champion and basketball star, enters her fifth season with the Philadelphia Tribune Girls^ the National Colored Basketball Champions.3= The Shaw Girls' sexette revenged an earlier loss to Bennett College. This victory makes both team co-holders of the collegiate girls' basketball championship in North Carolina. This was Bennett's first lost to an intra-state school during the past four year.40 Knox Academy of Selma won the 2nd annual Southern Interscholastic Basketball Tournament sponsored by Tuskegee Institute.41 Irma U. Thompson, who competed in several sports and received three letters in basketball was named captain of the varsity basketball team at Jackson College, Tufts University.42 Tilltoson College Girls concluded another undefeated season by disposing of the Prairie View women in the Central Texas Women's Tourney.4 3 136
The Downingtown Industrial School Girls finished one of their worst season, since their establishment in 1928.44 1937 Tribune Girls, "World Colored Champions". 1939 Willette Goodlette Hill coached both the men's and women's basketball teams at Tennessee State University.45 1940 Tribune Girls, Women's. Sepia Court Champions. "Women's Sports": Xavier University coached by Minnie Finley defeated Prairie View S t a t e . 46 "Women in Athletics": Bernice High School sextet won its second consecutive Louisana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Cage Title.47 Harlem Mysterious Five of New York honored as city-wide champion in girls' division of amateur league.48 Five Shaw University athletes received sweaters for three years of participation.49 Storer College of Harper Ferry, West Virgina remains undefeated in Atlantic Athletic Association. They lost only 4 games in 25 starts from 1939-1940.50 1941 Tribune Girls, National Colored Champions. Shaw University leading team in the South. 1943 Death of Otto Bridges, promoter of the Phildelphia Tribune G i r l s . 5 1 1944 Female coached both the men's and women's basketball teams at Tennessee State University. 1945 Courier covered only southern teams. There were none from the northeast or Ohio.
TRACK AND FIELD
1924 Amateur Athletic Union sponsors championship. E. C. Delaports, assistant supervisor of physical education supervisor sponsored Chicago's first annual track and field championship for elementary schools. The girls from Keith School finished second.52 1925 1926 1927 1928 First year, track offered in the Olympic Games. 1929 Events for women added in the Tuskegee Relays. 1930 1931 Stella Waslh to compete at the Wanamker Meet. Louise Stokes won Mayor's Cup in Boston as the best female athlete. 1932 Louise Stokes and Tydie Pickett won berths on 137
the United States Olympic Team. Neither athlete ran in Los Angeles. Approximately 50 women reported to try-out for Tuskegee Institute Women's Team. Chester Washington praised Louise Stokes and Margaret Gordon for their athletic accomplishments. 1936 Represented by ten females, Tuskegee Institute finished second at the National AAU Championship at Providence, Rhode Island.53 For the first time in the six year history of the annual Intercollegiate Athletic Relay Carnival and Tennis Championship (Prairie View), several track events were initiated for women.54 Tuskegee Institute sponsored the 8th annual women's track and field championship and the Southern Intercollegiate Tennis Championship. This marked the first time in American history that a Negro institution hosted the semi-finals tryout for the Olympic Games.55 Pickett and Stokes made the Olympic team for the second time. Mrs. Eleanor Holm Jarrett was dismissed from the Olympic team for breaking training.56 1937 Tuskegee Institute won the National Amateur Athletic Union Women's Track and Field Championship. 1941 Jean Lane received two points in the balloting for "Woman Athlete of the Year". Entering 5 tournaments and running two events in each, she captured ten championships. In doing so, she defeated Stella Walsh three times. Jewell Coles plans to return to track and field as a professional with the Mercury Athletic Club. An unknown sprinter starred at Penn Relays. 1942 Tuskegee retains t?tle. Jean Lane, the "world's fastest female" joined the staff at Fort Valley. Chester Washington referred to Jean Lane and Stella Walsh as the "Buckeye B u l l e t s " . 57 1944 Tuskegee retains title. Officials streamlined the women's championship at the Tuskegee Relay. ??? They combined the Southern Conference track and field championship with the Tuskegee Relays. 1945 Tuskegee retains title. Alice Coachman dethroned Stella Walsh in the sprints. 1946 1947 Alice Coachman tied for third place in the overall voting for the top Negro male and female 138
athlete. Jackie Robinson, first; L. Jackson and M. Motley tied for second; and Joe Louis, Bill Willis and Coachman finished third. 1948 Alice Coachman won the high jump in the Olympics, Audrey Patterson finished third in the 200m. The Courier perceived the women's performance during the Olympic Games as the greatest disappointmentment.58
SPORTS REPORTERS
1924 In the Chicago Defender Nettie George Speedy wrote a few by-lines including a story on the Kentucky Derby and boxing.59 1943 Zelda Hines, the women's bowling editor, reported on bowling in two different sports columns, "Bowling" and "Strikes & Spare". Occassionally, she wrote men's results only.G O 139
ENDNOTES
1. An entry with the name and or hometown as well as the title represents the women's champion in the singles at the ATA Nationals.
2. This format (site, winner, and city or affiliation) is used to identify the women's national champion.
3. Defender. 11 April, 1936.
4. Defender. 12 September, 1924.
5. Defender. 25 April, 193 6.
6. Defender. 30 May 1936.
7. Defender.
8. Courier. 17 and 29 April, 1943.
9. Courier. 26 April, 1947.
10. UGA champions for 1935 and 193 6 appearing in the Defender. August 10, 1940 differed from Henderson's list on page 237.
11. Defender. 3 October, 1936.
12. Defender. 13 April and 1 June, 1940.
13. Defender. 26 October, 1940.
14. Courier. 2 March, 1940.
15. Defender. 6 July, 1940.
16. Courier and Defender. 30 August, 1941.
17. Defender. 16 August 1941.
18. Courier. 26 April 1941.
19. Defender. 24 February and 9 March, 1940.
20. Defender. 25 May, 1940.
21. Defender. 23 April, 1940.
22. Defender. 21 December, 1940. 140 23. Defender. 9 March, 1940; 7 December, 1940
24. Defender. ■ 24 May, 1924.
25. Chicago Defender. 15 March. 1924.
26. Defender 5 April, 1924.
27. Defender ibid. (3/15).
28. Defender 24 May, 1924.
29. Defender 21 June, 1924.
30. Defender 9 February, 1924.
31. Defender 31 October, 1936.
32. Defender 28 November, 1936.
33. Defender 30 May, 1936.
34. Defender 17 and 24 February, 1940; 2 Mar
35. Defender 23 March, 1924.
36. Defender 3 May, 1924.
37. Defender 10 May, 1924.
38. Defender 25 April, 1936.
39. Defender 7 November, 1936.
40. Defender 28 March, 1936.
41. Defender 28 March, 1936.
42. Defender 4 April, 1936.
43. Defender 4 April, 1936.
44. Defender 25 April, 1936.
45. Courier. 5, 12 February 1944.
46. Defender 3 February, 1940.
47. Defender 23 March, 1940.
48. Defender 15 June, 1940. 141 49. Defender. 25 May, 1940.
50. Defender. 20 April, 1940.
51. Courier. 6 November, 1943.
52. Defender. 21 June, 1924.
53. Defender. 13 June, 1936.
54. Defender. 11 April, 1936.
55. Defender. 18 April, 1936; Courier. 2 May, 1936.
56. Courier. 1 August, 1936.
57. Courier. 6 June, 1942.
58. Courier. 7 August, 1948.
59. Chicago Defender. 24 May; 7, June, 1924.
60. Defender. 9 January; 6 & 13 February, 1943. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMARY SOURCES
Newspapers
Chicago Defender. January 1924 - June 1924; January 1932 December, 1948.
Pittsburgh Courier. January 1924 - December 1948.
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Mass Media Communication Research
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Holsti, Ole R. Content Analysis for the Social Sciences and Humanities. (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969) .
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Adelman, Melvin L. A Sporting Time: New York Citv and the Ris^: of Modern Athletics, 1820-70. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.
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ARTICLES
Sports
Adelman, Melvin L. "Academicians and Athletics: Historians Views of American Sport," Maryland Historian. 4 (Fall 1973), 123-34.
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Morrow, Don and Janice Waters. "Method in Sport History: A Content Analysis Approach," Canadian Journal of History of Sport (December 1982), 30-37.
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Rader, Benjamin. "Modern Sports: In Search of Interpretations," Journal of Social History. 13 (1979), 307-321.
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UNPUBLISHED WORKS
Simpson, R. Wayne. "A Content Analysis of Toronto's Business and Sporting clubs, 1827-1881," Paper presentation at the North American Society for Sport History, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, May 21-24, 1982.
Slatton, Yvonne LaBelle. "The Role of Women as Depicted Through Advertising in Selected Magazines, 1900- 1968," Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Iowa, 1970.
Thaxton, Nolan A. "A Documentary Analysis of Competitive Track and Field for Women at Tuskegee Institute and Tennessee State University," Ph.D. Dissertation, Springfield College, 1970.
Waters, Evelyn Janice. "A Content Analysis Sport Section: 1927-1935," Unpublished Masters of Arts thesis. The University of Western Ontario, 1981.