African Americans

When professional sports became established in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, African Americans were excluded. They responded by forming independent black sports teams or by traveling to countries such as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba to play in professional leagues.

African American baseball players participated in the Negro Leagues. Originally the Negro Leagues were a loose affiliation of teams. In 1920 star player and team owner Rube Foster founded the National Negro League, which included such powerful teams as the Kansas City Monarchs and the Indianapolis ABC’s. In 1933 another National Negro League was formed, which included the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays. Both leagues attracted star players, such as Oscar Charleston, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and Satchel Paige. African Americans also played with barnstorming clubs, or traveling teams, such as the Indianapolis Clowns. Barnstorming clubs crossed the United States playing wherever opponents, black or white, amateur or professional, could be found. Traveling basketball teams, such as the Harlem Globetrotters, formed in 1929, also toured the country.

Although African Americans faced discrimination in team sports, the most violent reactions to African American participation in sports took place in boxing. After the controversial black boxer Jack Johnson defeated white boxer Jim Jeffries for the world heavyweight title in 1910, whites rioted and lynched black men throughout the country. Between 1919 and the 1930s, whites refused to fight blacks for the heavyweight title. Only in 1937 was black boxer Joe Louis officially recognized as world heavyweight champion.

Beginning in the late 1940s, professional sports leagues slowly began to integrate. Jackie Robinson broke the “color barrier” of major league baseball in 1947 when he became the starting second baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers. While players such as Satchel Paige, Larry Doby, and Roy Campenella also joined the major leagues, it was not until 1958 that every team included at least one African American player.

Integration in other sports followed. Founded in 1948, the National Basketball Association (NBA) began integrating in 1949, when the New York Knicks signed Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton. Althea Gibson integrated tennis when she became the first African American player in the United States Lawn Association (USLTA) in 1950. Arthur Ashe became the first African American to win a USLTA title in 1963. Both Ashe and Gibson later went on to win titles at Wimbledon, the first African Americans to do so.

Integration provided greater opportunities to individual black players, but black teams, such as the Harlem Globetrotters and Negro League teams, were excluded from the new system. As talented athletes joined the ranks of the NBA and major league baseball, the quality of play and fan support waned in the segregated leagues. The Harlem Globetrotters became a traveling entertainment act, while the Negro League teams simply disappeared.

African Americans have excelled in almost every professional sport. Many people think baseball player Willie Mays and basketball player Michael Jordan are the best players in the history of their sports. Boxer Muhammad Ali made good on his claim to be “the Greatest” by winning the world heavyweight championship three different times in the 1960s and 1970s. In football, Cleveland Browns’ fullback Jim Brown held the National Football League’s career rushing record from 1966 until 1984, when Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton replaced him in the record books. African American athletes continue to break new ground. In 1997 Tiger Woods, at age 21, became the first African American golfer to win the prestigious Masters golf tournament. His achievement sparked unprecedented interest in golf among blacks, particularly black youths.