Overview
After World War II, the United States used international sport to promote democratic values and its image of an ideal citizen. But African American women excelling in track and field upset such notions. Cat M. Ariail examines how athletes such as Alice Coachman, Mae Faggs, and Wilma Rudolph forced American sport cultures—both white and Black—to reckon with the athleticism of African American women. Marginalized still further in a low-profile sport, young Black women nonetheless bypassed barriers to represent their country. Their athletic success soon threatened postwar America's dominant ideas about race, gender, sexuality, and national identity. As Ariail shows, the wider culture defused these radical challenges by locking the athletes within roles that stressed conservative forms of femininity, blackness, and citizenship. A rare exploration of African American women athletes and national identity, Passing the Baton reveals young Black women as active agents in the remaking of what it means to be American.
Full Product Details
Author: Cat M. Ariail
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Imprint: University of Illinois Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.540kg
ISBN: 9780252043482
ISBN 10: 0252043480
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 30 November 2020
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Ariail pinpoints how important the women of track and field were to changing opinions in both white and black communities about the accomplishments of women of color. But she also powerfully argues that this story does not end with victory. Rather, she reminds us how much work gender did (and does) to undergird racism. --Katherine C. Mooney, author of Race Horse Men: How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack
Ariail pinpoints how important the women of track and field were to changing opinions in both white and black communities about the accomplishments of women of color. But she also powerfully argues that this story does not end with victory. Rather, she reminds us how much work gender did (and does) to undergird racism. --Katherine C. Mooney, author of Race Horse Men: How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack A worthwhile addition to public-library collections on Black American sports, Olympic history, and gender studies. --Booklist
Ariail's intersectional analysis of race and gender is detailed in explication of white and Black press representations of--as well as coaches', track-and-field officials', and politicians' public statements about--Black women track and field athletes. . . . Passing the Baton is an important reconsideration of Black women athletes' physical and representational performances as ideological work equivalent to other cultural workers and civil rights leaders. --Journal of American History Passing the Baton is engaging, optimistic, and unsentimental--it elucidates a rarely discussed period of American athletic history and thus offers much value to any demographic. --Journal of African American Studies Ariail pinpoints how important the women of track and field were to changing opinions in both white and black communities about the accomplishments of women of color. But she also powerfully argues that this story does not end with victory. Rather, she reminds us how much work gender did (and does) to undergird racism. --Katherine C. Mooney, author of Race Horse Men: How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack
Author Information
Cat M. Ariail is a lecturer in the Department of History at Middle Tennessee State University.
