Description
Native Athletes in Sport and Society contains eleven fascinating essays about various aspects of men's and women's sports efforts and accomplishments as Native athletes in Canada and the United States. The various authors discuss the way Native American sports figures managed to retain their identity in a mainstream sports world that did not welcome ethnic players. Issues include representation, identity, racism, power, assimilation, adaptation, class, and difference as these factors played out in team and individual sports. Whether it is a contemporary golf pro, Notah Begay, or a women's basketball team from an Indian boarding school at the turn of the century, Native athletes have excelled despite the class and race issues of the times. One Canadian study by Vicky Paraschak examines the way Iroquois women have excelled in team sports in her essay, An Examination of Sport for Aboriginal Females on the Six Nations Reserve, 1968-1980. Her essay dispels the common belief that First Nations women are not involved in athletics. Two articles deal with Native American baseball players that have graced the major leagues including Louis Francis Sockalexis and George Howard Johnson. Well-known Native athlete Jim Thorpe receives attention as well as a lesser-known football player, Tommy Yarr. C. Richard King is an associate professor of comparative ethnic studies at Washington State University. This edited collection makes an important contribution to the understanding of Aboriginal Peoples in sports history and is of interest to Native Studies, History, and Sports History students.