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The American Plan

5 Pages 1203 Words


Traditionally the caste systems and other social criteria prohibited lower classes from sport. The upper classes had their own sports while minorities had their ‘inferior’ sports. Then you factor in industrialization that brought on the Great Migration. This immigration from Europe and the South in the late nineteenth century rapidly increased city populations. Industrialization offered a large number of better jobs for blacks. With the availability of non-skilled workers, factory workers were seen as commodities and not as people. They worked eighteen hour days and had very little time for sport.
Through the American Plan the importance of a happy workplace was conveyed to factory employers and workers. With the American Plan, the workers were allotted more time for leisure and sport. The American Plan provided the necessary funding for organizations to offer sport. The Organized Play Movement took the sports from the sandlots and the streets and helped unite communities. Organizing these sports gave the participants a sense of equality. They were equal on the playing field against the whites, which they had not been in society. The Organized Play Movement erected organizations such the YMCA to create equality within sport for African-Americans.
The role of sport has changed for African-Americans in the past century. Sport was organized to help generate a sense of community for the athletes and everyone involved. The immediate community of the factories was the best place for owners to find employees. In turn, “community recreation helps to make good will. And the good will of a community is a real asset” [1]. Community organizers such as L.C. Gardner felt that in order to fully orchestrate a happy work environment and positive community, they had to keep the residents/employees active and participating in sports. In the sandlots of Black Pittsburgh, these organizations gave the participants a sense of c...

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