Race, Gender, and Culture

This course will explore baseball through the lenses of race, gender, and culture. For good and for ill, baseball has been at the forefront of how the United States has dealt with these issues. Does baseball leading the way with desegregation negate that the sport was at the forefront of segregation with its Gentlemen's Agreements? What is the historical legacy of baseball providing opportunities for women during wartime, in a way that other North American professional sports leagues did not? These are some of the ideas that this course will explore as it shows baseball's virtues and flaws.