More than the game: An Episodic Study of Sports and Agency in U.S. History

Did you know that William Edward White—a first baseman on Brown's 1883 national championship team—was and likely the first person of African descent to play major league baseball? White hit the field as a member of the Providence Grays 68 years before Jackie Robinson suited up for Brooklyn. This course examines the history of athletes activism and considers how sports reflected and sometimes helped to shape cultural, social, political, and economic realities in the U.S. By examining certain pivotal episodes, this class appraises how individual—and sometimes collective—acts of athleticism helped traditionally marginalized peoples to critique and challenge exclusionary systems and mores.