American History Through Sport

Whether you are an avid competitor, a diehard fan, or someone who just refers to it all as “sportsball,” competitive athletics loom large in American society. With larger than life personalities, labor disputes, battles over civil rights & equality, conflicts between superstition and science, and fights over maintaining tradition or embracing change, sport history is American history. This course will study topics in American history through the lens of sport covering topics such as: European and Colonial origins of American sporting culture, Urbanization & the growth of organized games, Protest & Resistance on and off the field, Olympic Games & Cold War Politics, Sport & American Identity, and much, much more! Students will read on a wide array of topics in sport, participate in competitive debates over topics in sport history, compete with each other in historical games (both games that survived to the modern era and those that did not), and conduct research over an American Sport History topic of their choosing.