There are very many impacts of sports on our lives. I cannot begin to address all of those impacts, but there is one area of our lives that I want to address. And I want to address it by talking about two movies that specifically highlight this aspect of our lives.
The United States fought a War Between the North and the South http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/northandsouth.html over economic issues, specifically, but not only, the issue of slavery. By war's end, the black slaves of all states in the United States were declared emancipated http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/transcript.html.
However, Blacks were not treated well, nor as equals, nor allowed to integrate into our society for close to a hundred years after the war's end. Segregation was promulgated by "The Jim Crow Laws" http://www.nps.gov/malu/forteachers/jim_crow_laws.htm, not withstanding the fact that Integration technically became the law of the land in 1866 http://www.withylaw.com/history.htm. There are still racial problems in the United States, not with just the Blacks, but that is one of the areas of racism the United States still faces.
Although there have been Black soldiers in wars fought by the United States, beginning with the War for Independence http://www.army.mil/africanamericans/timeline.html, the United States military did not officially integrate until 1946 http://www.withylaw.com/history.htm. Even then, integration was not widely nor uniformly implemented. However, the integration of the United States military opened the door for other types of integrations.
Sports in the United States was a venue which saw integration after World War II. Yesterday, I went to watch the movie 42 http://42movie.warnerbros.com/, which is based on the story of Branch Rickey, Brooklyn Dodger executive, choosing Jackie Robinson as the first Negro player in Major League Baseball. I do not usually go to the movies. I went to see this movie the weekend it was released. A friend of mine wanted to see it, and invited me to join her. I enjoyed the movie more the second time, than I did the first, and saw things in it the second time that I missed the first time. And, I can tell you, I will see this movie many more times.
I have seen the movie Glory Road http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385726/ multiple times on TV or DVD. The story is about the 1966 NCAA Championship team, the Texas Western Miners, http://gloryroad.utep.edu/home.aspx, which started 5 black players in the championship game, the first such team to win a championship. Did Coach Don Haskins set out to integrate NCAA basketball on a grand scale? From watching the movie, he just set out to win. And win he did. But that championship game is considered one of, if not the most important basketball games in NCAA history.
These two stories are a prime example of how sports impacts our lives. Integration was a long, emotional, hard fought, and bloody battle. It did not go smoothly in sports any more than it went in many other aspect of our lives. But sports has had a major impact on integration.
Our country's history is interesting and points out that our "white guys" are not necessarily so "white". It takes people who are brave and willing to think openly, not always follow the status quo, to break down barriers and open doors. I admire those people. They did what they wanted to do, in spite of the norms and risks. I am not a movie goer but did see "42" because of the reviews that indicated it was fairly factual and not excessively hyped. I would see it again. Branch Rickey deserves a lot of credit for what he did and the way he did it.
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