Menu
Idea

activist athletes

Back out to athletes
59
View on Map
Filter by:

Filter by published date

Bill Walton speaking at a press conference.

Bill Walton Was Once a Trailblazing Radical

The basketball great is now better known for his tie-dye and enthusiastic sports commentary, but in the 1970s, he was a polarizing anti-government activist.
by Dave Zirin, Frank Gurridy via The Nation on September 6, 2023
Jackie Robinson wearing his baseball uniform.

Revisiting the Legacy of Jackie Robinson

The Christian, the athlete, and the activist.
by Paul Putz via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on November 1, 2022
Brooklyn Dodgers infielder Jackie Robinson in uniform, circa 1945.

Jackie Robinson’s Last Fight

As baseball celebrates the 75th anniversary of Robinson’s breaking the color line, it’s worth remembering a man at odds with his own myth.
by Dave Zirin via The Nation on April 15, 2022
Jackie Robinson addresses civil rights supporters protesting outside the 1964 GOP National Convention.

Jackie Robinson Was a Radical – Don't Listen to the Sanitized Version of History

Before Colin Kaepernick, Jackie Robinson wrote, ‘I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a Black man in a white world.’
by Peter Dreier via The Conversation on April 14, 2022
Curt Flood posed with a baseball bat.

The Ballplayer Who Fought for Free Agency

For his talents on the diamond and his determination off of it, Curt Flood deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.
by Peter Dreier via The Nation on August 27, 2021
Tommie Smith on podium receives gold medal with fist raised, holding shoe.
partner

Rule 50 and Racial Justice

The long history of the international olympic committee's war on athletes' free expression.
by Debbie Sharnak, Yannick Kluch via HNN on August 22, 2021
A colorful graphic featuring Curt Flood with a key on his necklace.

Curt Flood Belongs in the Hall of Fame

His defiance changed baseball and helped assert Black people’s worth in American culture.
by Jemele Hill via The Atlantic on February 10, 2021
partner

Black College Athletes Are Rising Up Against the Exploitative System They Labor In

Will coronavirus prompt the house of cards of college athletics to come tumbling down?
by Amira Rose Davis via Made By History on August 11, 2020

Athlete-Activists Before and After Kaepernick

Kap wasn't the first, and he won't be the last.
by Louis Moore, Jules Boykoff via Public Books on May 14, 2019
Three Black men in a field wearing Baltimore Black Sox uniforms.

Bill Bruton’s Fight for the Full Integration of Baseball

Louis Moore discusses Bill Bruton and the erasure of his activism towards integration in Major League Baseball.
by Louis Moore via Black Perspectives on May 9, 2019

How Wilma Rudolph Became the World’s Fastest Woman

Wilma Rudolph won three Olympic golds and was among the first athletes to use her celebrity to fight for civil rights.
by Kate Siber via Outside on June 8, 2018
Tommie Smith and John Carlos protesting as they receive medals at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
partner

Black Power Salute

The founder of the Olympic Project for Human Rights talks about the iconic protest by Tommie Smith and John Carlos on the winners’ podium in 1968.
via BackStory on January 26, 2018
Tommie Smith and John Carlos raise their fists during a 1968 Olympics award ceremony
partner

The Black Athlete in America

Colin Kaepernick continues a long tradition of athletes using their celebrity to protest America's racial inequality.
by Matt Spolar, Brian Kamerzel via Retro Report on December 21, 2017

Remembering Baseball’s Right-Wing Rotation

When three Padres pitchers joined the John Birch Society in 1984, the sports world was challenged by a different kind of political activism.
by Bryan Curtis via The Ringer on October 31, 2017
Basketball team listening to coach Don McClanen.

The Role of Sports Ministries in the NFL Protests

A number of black athletes are fueling their activism with Christian faith.
by Paul Putz via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on October 17, 2017
African American medalists Tommie Smith and John Carlos with their fists raised during the national anthem at the 1968 Olympics.

Reparation as Fantasy

Remembering the black-fisted silent protest at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.
by Jamal Ratchford via Process: A Blog for American History on October 15, 2017
Baseball card featuring Clem Daniels.

This Football Player Fought for Civil Rights in the '60s

Here's what he thinks about national anthem protests.
by Clem Daniels, Olivia B. Waxman via TIME on September 8, 2017

Athlete Activists

The autobiography of NBA star Craig Hodges contains lessons for the pro athletes who are speaking up today.
by Jules Boykoff via Public Books on May 12, 2017

Locker-Room Liberty

Athletes who helped shape our times and the economic freedom that enabled them.
by Matt Welch via Reason on May 1, 2005
Jim Brown.
partner

Black Champions: Interview with Jim Brown

On inclusion of African American athletes in college sports.
via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on January 19, 1985
The Milwaukee Turners acrobatic team, 1866.

Socialist Gym Rats Fought to End Slavery in America

Veterans of the 1848 German revolution immigrated to America with three passions burning in their hearts: barbells, beer, and socialism.
by Devin Thomas O’Shea via Jacobin on August 9, 2023
Lebron James posing with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Changed the Rules for Black Athletes

How Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's activism set the stage for Lebron James and twenty-first century Black professional athletes.
by Theresa Runstedtler via Humanities on March 22, 2023
Chicago Bulls guard Norm Van Lier drives past Milwaukee Bucks center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during Game 2 of the NBA Playoffs at the United Center in Chicago on April 19, 1974.

How Black Basketball Players in the ‘70s Paved the Way for the All Stars Today

The impact of Black ball players' fight for higher compensation and labor protections in the ‘70s is felt today.
by Theresa Runstedtler via TIME on March 16, 2023
Curt Flood of the Saint Louis Cardinals, May 1966. Flood challenged Major League Baseball’s “reserve clause” barring players from changing teams.

A People’s History of Baseball

Communists fighting the color line. Baseball players resisting owners. Baseball's untold history of struggles against racial injustice and labor exploitation.
by Peter Dreier, Michael Arria via Jacobin on May 25, 2022
Photo of Jackie Robinson and Jacki Robinson Jr at the Youth March for Integrated Schools demonstration in Washington DC with Harry Belafonte.

Jackie Robinson, Pioneer of BDS

The Dodgers great didn’t just break Major League Baseball’s color line. He was also an activist whose legacy reaches from Brooklyn to South Africa to Palestine.
by Robert Ross via The Nation on April 15, 2022
Team photo of the Pacesetters in their uniforms.

How One Women’s Football Team Took Control Away From the Men

The Columbus Pacesetters weren’t satisfied being an afterthought or a gimmick, so they bought their franchise and the ability to make decisions for themselves.
by Britni de la Cretaz, Lyndsey D'Arcangelo via Sports Illustrated on October 29, 2021
Pure athletic prowess wasn’t really the point—the People’s Olympiad was about cultivating a spirit of equality, in direct contrast to Nazi ideals.

The 'Protest' Olympics That Never Came to Be

A leftist response to the 1936 Games being held in Nazi Germany, the proposed competition was canceled by the Spanish Civil War.
by Sam Harrison via Smithsonian on July 19, 2021
Muhammad Ali speaking on The Dick Cavett Show.

Muhammad Ali Explains Why He Refused to Fight in Vietnam

“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother… for big powerful America.”
by Josh Jones via Open Culture on May 5, 2021
Three African American protest leaders address a crowd.

True Stories About the Great Fire

A movement’s early days as told by those who rose up, those who bore witness, those who grieved, and those who hoped.
by Dan Adler, Anthony Breznican, Kenzie Bryant, Michael Calderone, Arimeta Diop, Caleb Ecarma, Joe Hagan, Chris Smith, Claire Landsbaum, Abigail Tracy, Erin Vanderhoof via The Hive on August 24, 2020

Jackie Robinson Was Asked to Denounce Paul Robeson. Instead, He Went After Jim Crow.

His testimony before House Un-American Activities Committee was a turning point for the baseball hero.
by Johnny Smith via Andscape on April 15, 2019
View More
30 of
59

Filter Results:

Suggested Filters:

Idea

Person

brought to you by
© Bunk History