American Indian Sports Heritage"From scenes of Senecas playing snow snake and Cheyennes competing in chungke, to the exploits of Olympian runner Billy Mills and Yankee pitcher Allie Reynolds, Oxendine has compiled a useful compendium of information on traditional Indian games and the entry of Native Americans into modern collegiate and professional sports, especially during the 'heyday' period between 1890 and 1930."-Choice. "Neither the highly commercialized nature of professional sports today nor the more casual attitude prevailing in amateur activities captures the essence of Indian sport, " writes Joseph B. Oxendine. Through sport, Indians sought blessings from a higher spirit. Sport that evolved from religious rites retained a spiritual dimension, as seen in the attitude and manner of preparing and participating. In American Indian Sports Heritage, Oxendine discusses the history and importance in everyday life of ball games (especially lacrosse), running, archery, swimming, snow snake, hoop-and-pole, and games of chance. Indians gained nationwide visibility as athletes in baseball and football; the teams at boarding schools such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania and the Haskell Institute in Kansas were especially famous. Oxendine describes the apex of Indian sports during the first three decades of the twentieth century and chronicles the decline since. He looks at the career of the legendary Jim Thorpe and provides brief biographies of other Indian athletes before and after 1930. Joseph B. Oxendine, a Lumbee who grew up in a segregated Indian community in North Carolina, played professional baseball for three years prior to completing his doctoral degree at Boston University. He ischancellor of Pembroke State University and has published extensively in the fields of motor learning and sport psychology. Oxendine has provided a new afterword for this Bison Books edition. |
Contents
Indian Concepts of Sport | 3 |
Ball Games | 35 |
Footracing | 67 |
Additional Sports of Major Interest | 91 |
Childrens Play | 121 |
Games of Chance | 141 |
The Emergence of Indians in Modern Sport | 157 |
Role of Early Indian Schools | 167 |
Prominent Indian Athletes Prior to 1930 | 239 |
Elijah Eli Smith | 252 |
Diminishing Visibility of Indians in Sports | 259 |
Limited Aspirations and Goals | 265 |
Prominent Indian Athletes After 1930 | 271 |
Jimmie Wolf Jr | 279 |
An Example of Continuing | 300 |
314 | |
Sports Programs at the Carlisle and Haskell Schools | 183 |
The Legendary Jim Thorpe | 188 |
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Common terms and phrases
19th century According activities addition All-American amateur American Indian Athletic Apache archery arrows ball games ball race baseball basketball behavior betting Big Hawk Billy Mills boys canoe Canton Bulldogs Carlisle School Catlin ceremonies championship chapter Cherokee Choctaw cited in Culin coach competition contests continued Culin culture described developed dice games distance double ball early feet football team gambling games of chance goal groups Hall of Fame Haskell Institute high school hoop inches included Indian Athletic Hall Indian community Indian games Indian School Indian sports Indian youth inducted Iroquois National Jim Thorpe kick major league major league baseball miles moccasin National Anthropological Archives non-Indian Oklahoma Olympic Oren Lyons participation Pembroke State University permission Photo played players popular prior programs prominent record reported runners running score shinny skill Smithsonian Institution snow snake sticks success swimming tion track traditional Indian tribes University usually Warner women yards young
References to this book
Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families, 1900-1940 Brenda J. Child No preview available - 1998 |