Racism in Professional Sports: CRT and the Take a Knee Movement
This essay examines racism in professional sports in the United States, tracing its history from early integration barriers to contemporary protests. Beginning with landmark figures such as Jackie Robinson and Willie Thrower, the paper documents the persistent racial inequalities athletes of color have faced. It then applies two theoretical frameworks — critical race theory (CRT) and colorism — to explain why racism continues to shape professional sports today. The essay also connects the Black Lives Matter movement to the 2017 Take a Knee protests, arguing that institutionalized racism in American society inevitably crosses over into the sports arena. Theory is presented as a necessary lens for understanding and addressing these ongoing inequalities.
- Introduction: Institutionalized Racism and Professional Sports: Overview of racism as systemic issue in sports
- Historical Barriers: Early Black Athletes and Integration: Early exclusion and first Black athletes in pro sports
- Jackie Robinson and the Color Barrier: Robinson's historic role and racism he faced
- Critical Race Theory as a Framework for Understanding Sports Racism: CRT applied to racial inequality in sports
- Colorism in Professional Sports: Skin-color discrimination within and across racial groups
- The Black Lives Matter Movement and Take a Knee: Social movements intersecting with sports protests
- Conclusion: Synthesis of racism, theory, and need for change
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What makes this paper effective
- Uses concrete historical examples — Jackie Robinson, Willie Thrower, Tiger Woods — to ground abstract theoretical claims in real events, making arguments accessible and credible.
- Connects macro-level social movements (Black Lives Matter, Take a Knee) to the essay's central thesis, demonstrating that racism in sports does not exist in isolation from broader American society.
- Introduces and defines theoretical frameworks (CRT and colorism) before applying them, giving readers the conceptual vocabulary needed to follow the analysis.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates the use of theoretical frameworks as analytical lenses. Rather than simply cataloguing instances of racism, the author introduces critical race theory and colorism as structured ways to interpret why racial disparities persist in professional sports. This approach shows how academic theory can be applied to real-world phenomena to yield deeper explanatory insight beyond surface-level observation.
Structure breakdown
The essay opens with a broad historical overview of racial exclusion in professional sports, then narrows to the case study of Jackie Robinson. It widens again to introduce CRT and colorism as explanatory frameworks, applies each in turn with supporting examples, and then ties the theoretical discussion to the contemporary Take a Knee movement. The conclusion synthesizes all threads, reinforcing the central claim that racism in sports is an extension of institutionalized racism in American society.
Introduction: Institutionalized Racism and Professional Sports
Racism in professional sports has been documented for decades, but only in recent years has it become more widely visible. The Take a Knee movement has sparked outrage on both sides as people fight for racial equality while others argue for patriotism. However, this protest is just one symptom of a much larger disease: institutionalized racism and how it has crossed over into sports. Theoretical frameworks such as critical race theory and colorism allow for a deeper understanding of what it means to be a person of color in professional sports and how that reality affects outcomes both on and off the field. This essay highlights what racism in professional sports looks like, how it contributed to the Take a Knee movement, and how theory helps make sense of it all.
Historical Barriers: Early Black Athletes and Integration
Professional sports in the United States was effectively a "whites only" arena until the mid-20th century. It was not until certain Black athletes became the first to achieve prominent professional positions — such as the quarterback role in American football — that any meaningful integration of people of color began to occur on the field. For example, 1953 saw Willie Thrower become the first-ever Black quarterback in American football. Even so, only one Black quarterback, Doug Williams, has led his team to a Super Bowl victory. "Doug Williams has been the only Black QB to lead his team to a Super Bowl win, when he led the Washington Redskins to blow out the Denver Broncos 42–10 in Super Bowl XXII." (Fuhrman) This illustrates not only how difficult it was to attain such positions in the past, but also how limited representation remains today, with only a handful of starting quarterback spots held by non-white players.
Works Cited
Fuhrman, Zeke. "A History of African-American Athletes." Bleacher Report, 24 Oct. 2008, bleacherreport.com/articles/73113-a-history-of-african-american-athletes. Accessed 30 Nov. 2017.
History.com Staff. "Jackie Robinson Breaks Major League Color Barrier — Apr 15, 1947." HISTORY.com, 2009, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jackie-robinson-breaks-major-league-color-barrier. Accessed 30 Nov. 2017.
Hylton, Kevin. "How a Turn to Critical Race Theory Can Contribute to Our Understanding of 'Race', Racism and Anti-Racism in Sport." International Review for the Sociology of Sport, vol. 45, no. 3, 2010, pp. 335–354.
Lapchick, Richard. "The Year in Racism and Sports." ABC News, 25 Jan. 2017, abcnews.go.com/Sports/year-racism-sports/story?id=45035554. Accessed 30 Nov. 2017.
Martin, Lori L. Out of Bounds: Racism and the Black Athlete. Praeger P, 2014.
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