Score 70% or higher to complete this unit. Answers stay hidden until you submit.
1. The Negro Leagues were described by some historians as 'the largest Black-owned business enterprise in the United States' at their peak. What economic principle made them financially viable?
2. Jack Johnson's boxing career provoked race riots, federal prosecution, and exile. What did his career reveal about the limits placed on Black excellence in early 20th-century America?
3. Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, widely described as an embarrassment to Nazi racial ideology. Which detail complicates this narrative most significantly?
4. Branch Rickey told Jackie Robinson he needed 'a man with guts enough not to fight back' before signing him to the Brooklyn Dodgers. What does this condition reveal about the terms of racial integration in American sports?
5. Tommie Smith and John Carlos were expelled from the 1968 U.S. Olympic team within 48 hours of raising their fists on the medal stand. Decades later, a statue of the gesture was erected at San Jose State University. What does this timeline reveal?
6. Muhammad Ali refused induction into the U.S. Army in 1967, saying 'No Viet Cong ever called me n*****.' What made this statement a political argument rather than simply a personal sentiment?
7. Serena Williams — wealthy, famous, and at an elite hospital — nearly died after childbirth because her concerns were dismissed by medical staff. Black women in New York City die from pregnancy-related causes at 8–12 times the rate of white women. What does Serena's case demonstrate about the cause of the maternal mortality disparity?
8. The 2026 World Cup featured France with 21 of 26 players of African descent, while Argentina fielded no players of African descent. What historical chain explains this contrast?
9. The NBA in 2024 featured players born in Nigeria, Cameroon, South Sudan, and the DRC competing alongside African American players. C.L.R. James wrote that cricket in the Caribbean was 'not just a game — it is a political act.' What do these examples share?
10. The NCAA prohibited college athletes from receiving compensation for most of the 20th century while generating billions in revenue — disproportionately from Black athletic labor. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor's concept of 'predatory inclusion' was developed for housing but applies here. How?
Athletic Agency: Resistance vs. Institutional Assimilation
Document-Based Task · scored with the essay rubric
Using the provided documents, analyze the tension between Black athletic agency and the institutional expectations imposed upon athletes. To what extent did Black athletes use their platforms to subvert white-controlled power structures compared to those who operated within the 'integration bargain' to gain access to mainstream sporting spaces?
Source Documents
Branch Rickey’s 'Letter to Negro Players' (1945)
Primary Source
Tommie Smith and John Carlos: The 1968 Olympic Project for Human Rights Press Statement
Primary Source
Muhammad Ali’s Statement on Refusing Induction into the U.S. Army (1967)
