Explanation of Scope and Genre

This teaching site is directed principally toward high school and undergraduate students of American history. It focuses on race and gender constructions in the mid-twentieth- century United States. The vehicle for examining such constructions is the stories of black women athletes – 1940s track and field great, Alice Coachman, and 1950s tennis sensation, Althea Gibson – who despite their record-breaking athletic achievements were recognized by the press of their day primarily for their race or gender rather than their athleticism. Press coverage representing contemporary black and white perspectives is presented for students to review, critique, and compare their conclusions with those of the author of the site. The coverage of these athletes of the 1940s and 1950s is also juxtaposed to present-day black women athletes allowing visitors to assess change over time, if any. Teachers who are engaged in surveys of American history will find striking material to reinforce themes of the social constructions of race and gender in the mid-twentieth century.

Sport history is a particularly effective way to reach the target audience. Many teens are involved in either playing or watching sports, and the sporting world is an important part of the popular culture of twentieth-century America. Moreover, the history of sport allows students to assess the contributions of African Americans and women who, at mid-century, were blocked from participating in many other aspects of the larger society. More importantly, however, this subject provides an important entry-way into examining societal attitudes toward race and gender over the course of two decades in United States history when these attitudes were in a state of transition.

The critical first step in an effective teaching site is to define what skills and knowledge the site will develop in students. The following objectives for Headlining the Sports Page were developed following discussions with teachers and professors of United States history survey courses of AP high school and college undergraduate students:

1. Identify social constructions of race and gender of 1940s and 1950s America by: evaluating press accounts of athletes from the black and white press;
contrasting the degree of societal acceptance regarding women's participation in track and field and tennis;
observing changes that occurred in social attitudes regarding race and gender as a result of World War II and the cold war.
2. Understand how attitudes of race and gender depicted through the sporting world fit into the larger narrative of twentieth-century United States History.
3. Evaluate change over time by comparing and contrasting press reports of 1940s/1950s black women athletes to those of the present day.
4. Identify and evaluate bias in primary sources.
5. Develop critical thinking skills.

In order to accomplish these goals, content of the site will include background on Coachman and Gibson, focusing on their athletic accomplishments, as well as women’s experience with track and field and tennis during the 1940s and 1950s. These discussions will be contextualized within the larger narrative of twentieth-century America. Students will also examine gender and race constructions through contemporary press accounts covering the athletes, and explore how the black and the white press constructions differed from one another. Online exercises will allow students to work with the primary documents in several ways – by assessing whether press accounts come from the black or white press, by making time comparisons between Coachman and Gibson and present-day athletes, and by comparing Gibson and Coachman’s constructions to those of other contemporary men and women athletes to further assess societal attitudes toward race and gender. A separate link for teachers will address the learning goals of the site and how to integrate it into United States survey courses. The following “site structure” portion of this proposal provides a more detailed description of proposed site content, structure, and navigation.