The Culture of Sports in the Harlem Renaissance

Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4766-6518-4
Verlag: McFarland

Buch, Englisch, 220 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 295 g

During the African American cultural resurgence of the 1920s and 1930s, professional athletes shared the spotlight with artists and intellectuals. Negro League baseball teams played in New York City's major-league stadiums and basketball clubs shared the bill with jazz bands at late night casinos. Yet sports remain conspicuously absent from much of the literature on the popular culture of the Harlem Renaissance. Although the black intelligentsia largely dismissed the popularity of sports, the press celebrated athletics as a means to participate in the debates of the day. A few prominent writers, such as Claude McKay and James Weldon Johnson, used sports in distinctive ways to communicate their vision of the Renaissance. Meanwhile, the writers of the Harlem press promoted sports with community consciousness, insightful analysis and a playful love of language, and argued for their importance in the fight for racial equality.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Anderson, Daniel

Über Autor(innen)

Daniel Anderson is an assistant professor of English and the Director of American Studies at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois.