Project summary
This research explored sporting practices of Southern Ontario Black women between the 1920s and the 1940s. It is aimed at developing a socio-cultural history of sport that include narratives from marginalized groups. In Canada, the focus on Black masculine narratives conflates race and racism in sport with Black men, marginalizing other people of colour, both male and female. However, separate positions in the patriarchal hierarchy distinguish masculine and feminine experiences in sport. It is also noted that White women inherently stand apart as Whites in a White European settler nation such as Canada. I argue that, by virtue of their simultaneously racialized and gendered identities, Black women had distinct experiences from those of White women and men and Black men in sport. Therefore, this work focuses on stories of women to make visible the combined impact of the categories of race and gender on Black women. This study is a response to a call from Black scholars, like historian Afua Cooper, to go beyond themes of labour, immigration, and slavery, and include stories about sport (Cooper, 2002).
Using archived oral histories from the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, as well as Toronto newspaper reports of elite women’s sport, the study uncovered a range of Black women’s experiences across Ontario. In oral histories, women recalled playing and watching sports. Some women were also involved as gatekeepers, in coaching and umpiring. In the newspapers, Jean Lowe from Toronto established a name for herself in the 1930s and 1940s as a track and field athletes, and as a basketball and softball player in the city’s clubs. One major similarity in both uncovered narratives was sport’s ability to integrate Black women into mainstream White society, allowing them to obscure the racial order, however briefly. Some women suggested that sport allowed them to interact with socio-economic groups with whom they could not interact otherwise. Sport also offered a ‘way out,’ as Lowe leveraged an exemplary high school athletic record to have an equally successful amateur run in a White dominated sport arena. In summary, through these accounts, it is found that insidious notions of race remained embedded in Black women’s experiences in sport, even as sport expanded and shifted the lens through which society viewed them.
Research methods
The 1920s to 1940s period is significant for having been a time of growth for women’s sport in Canada. There is, however, little research to indicate whether this also applied to Black women. In addition, during this period, the Black Canadian population in Canada was largely homogenous because of strict anti-Black immigration policies. Systemic racism also limited the socio-economic level that Black people could reach. As for the location, Southern Ontario was one of the regions (the other being Nova Scotia) with a large Black population at the time.
There were two research questions:
- What were the sport experiences of Black women between the 1920s and 1940s in Southern Ontario?
- What was the experience of elite black female athletes in Southern Ontario between the 1920s and 1940s?
The two main sources used were archived oral histories from the Multicultural History Society of Ontario (MHSO) and newspaper archives. There were 21 MHSO interviews conducted between the late 1970s and the early 1990s with Black women, and ten of them contained pertinent information about sport participation. Supplemented with other archival and secondary sources, the oral history accounts were compiled and contextually analyzed.
Newspaper archives, specifically the Globe and Mail and the Daily Star, helped retrace Jean Lowe, a Toronto elite athlete’s sporting experience in the late 1930s and 1940s. Lowe was most visible through that medium, and the two newspapers each featured a female columnist who focused on coverage and promotion of women’s sport. Information on the athlete’s performance as seen through the lens of the media was also cross-verified through various other archival and secondary sources.
Research results
The stories in this work demonstrate the combined effects of race and gender, interspaced with the class factor; they are not experiences based separately on race, gender, or class, but experiences impacted by all those categories combined. Through oral histories, women recalled being athletes and spectators, and some were even coaches and umpires. But, socio-economic status, gender norms and expectations, and racial identity dictated, shaped, and coloured these women’s experiences. In their recollections, some women suggested that their normalized life paths (typically school, marriage, and then children, while working) reduced opportunities for sport in adulthood. Some women turned to cheering on men on the baseball diamond instead. On the other hand, the media often praised Lowe and her story denotes a Black woman’s ascent and integration in a White-dominated community. However, Lowe’s seemingly unproblematic athletic career, as well as her qualification as representing an image of feminine beauty, stand in sharp contrast with her sustained designation as “dusky,” her frequent inclusion into discussions of the ‘Black athlete’s’ threatening rise, and her permanent departure from Toronto for Alabama in the mid-1940s.
Lowe’s urban context acutely contrasted with that of the women in the oral histories, many of whom lived in areas that were more rural. Lowe demonstrated a sustained involvement in competitive sport, while the oral histories uncovered more varied, but often inconsistent, types of sport practices. But, unlike Lowe’s account, oral histories present a perspective on black men and women’s relations, as they not only cheered on the men in their communities, but also played with them.
This history mainly reflects experiences of women from a higher socio-economic status (ones that had access to secondary and post-secondary education and financial support and stability), suggesting that one can expect more varied stories from even more varied voices, backgrounds, and circumstances. Also, the archived oral histories, despite being unique and useful sources, may have obscured some women’s range of activities because the interviews were a secondary source aimed at collecting life stories. Jean Lowe’s story is also only one elite athlete’s story. More individuals’ paths would further enrich sport histories of Black women.
Policy and program implications
Historical studies of sport help us understand what sport has been for specific groups at specific times. This research inscribes itself in this line as it presents previously ignored sport histories of marginalized peoples. Access to sport for the women in this study was important in shaping relations with their communities and, sometimes, with people outside their socio-economic group. Through one elite athlete of colour, we also understand that sport opened doors and facilitated access to educational and career opportunities. In terms of sport participation, this is further evidence that access to sport has important social impacts. For racialized girls and women, especially, this is a critical point, given how the sporting domain was closed to them traditionally. This research reinforces the importance of promoting the wide range of opportunities available through sport, and of acknowledging the barriers to participation when doing so. These notions should be at the core of sport participation programs implemented across Canada.
Next steps
Going forward, marginalized histories such as these can break historical myths and produce a comprehensive and diverse history of Canada (see Ebanda de B’béri, Reid-Maroney, & Wright, 2014). This research suggests that there are ignored histories that can help us understand the “why” of sport amongst Black Canadians in Canada. Notably, there are more sidelined narratives to be uncovered outside of Ontario and beyond the 1920s-1940s period. Additionally, making the stories accessible to the public is also a crucial step to take.
Knowledge translation
Sport Canada: Initiatives looking to improve and promote minority women/girls groups could benefit from this historical perspective to understand the role and place that sport may take for them.
Heritage Canada and Black History Societies: This work expands on the history of sport in Canada, but also on themes of Black histories. The wide sharing of these histories is necessary to normalize a more diverse history of Canada.