“Hey, kid! How'd you like to play for the Chicago Cubs?
Great! But I gotta ask my mom first.”- Rookie of the Year
Last week, we had two online journals about Native Americans and slaves. The Native American journal was about the history behind sport and how Native Americans played sports socially and as a culture. The games played by the natives have evolved into sports still played in the 21st century. The article mentions how Native Americans have formed all-Native sports. Also, there is a section on Native American athletes who have made it to the professional level, which is something we talked about last week in class.
The other article was about slaves’ entertainment while on their plantations. Usually, slaves had dance parties on Saturday’s as a day to relax and forget about work. Slaves from other plantations would sneak out and go to where the party was located. The article also talks about how slaves went hunting, fishing, boxing, and wrestling. These physical activities help keep them in shape while still being able to have competition amongst others.
After reading each article, I had a question running through my mind about history. How come history books left out detailed information about Native Americans and slaves? Throughout all my history classes, a lesson on Native Americans and/or slaves seems short each time. There is a certain amount of information given and that is it. For example, I learned only about slaves as workers for white slave owners. They made dinner and did chores. For Native Americans, I learned about them through Thanksgiving and how they saved European settlers. However, I recently learned about slaves having Saturday night dance parties. Native Americans playing their own organized sports, which are still played today. I even learned about the famous athletes who have a Native Americans background. To me, that’s the history I want to learn about. These articles are the missing information left out of the history books. I actually feel like I know more about Native American and slaves then I did beforehand.
I am so glad you found it useful to learn about the information in these articles. I wondered the same thing about the omission of all of this information in text on the History of Sport in North America. It seems like such a huge part of history, so why is it omitted? Good question!
ReplyDeleteYou're right Nick!, I liked this post. You made a great point about these articles.. "they're the missing information left out of the history books". I think if we were learning more about the slaves and Native Americans' past times in sport history, I would've been way more interested during all those old history classes! That information shouldn't be left out because it makes learning about it more intriguing. I'm glad we're finally getting to read about it through this class. Good post!
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