Running head: The Stigma of Athletic Ability in African Americans
The Stigma of Athletic Ability in African Americans
Kyle J. Purdue
Eastern Washington University
Running head: The Stigma of Athletic Ability in African Americans
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When anticipating a person’s social identity, people often tend to lean on their past
experiences and preconceived notions, which in turn allows the anticipator to develop normative
expectations that can lead to righteous demands (Goffman, 1963, p. 3). African Americans in the
present sports society are stigmatized as having high athletic ability. Thus, the normative
expectations of sports society lead to righteous demands of African Americans to possess
prominent athletic ability. This stigma may not be visible to everyone, but as Goffman (1963)
states, “…intimates can come to play a special role in the discreditable person’s management of
social situations, so that even where their acceptance of him is not influenced by his stigma, their
duties will be” (p. 55). The intimates in this case, African American athletes, as a collective have
their duties stigmatized. These duties correlate with common stereotypical expectations of
African American athletic ability (i.e. quickness, leaping, and strength). Hall (2001) makes a
valid point, “…stereotype may influence the athletic performance of all races, similar to the way
that intellectual stereotypes influence the academic performance of all students” (p. 107).
European American athletes may underachieve despite perhaps being otherwise more athletically
gifted then their African American competitors as a result of the stigma (Hall, 2001, p. 107).
The U.S. Census Bureau states (as cited in Hall, 2001) that persons classified as African
American constitute about 12.1% of the total population; European Americans represent about
80%. The Center for Study of Sport in Society reports (as cited in Hall, 2001) 68% of players in
the National Football League [NFL] and more than 75% in the National Basketball Association
[NBA] are African American. These numbers clearly represent a dominant minority-majority in
American professional sports. The findings are consistent at lower levels of competition as well,
“of NCAA Division 1 football players, 40% are Black as are 60% of the basketball players”
(Hall, 2001, p. 109).
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Elaborating further, the NBA, NFL, and Olympic track/field are the sporting
leagues/events that require the most stereotypical African American athletic abilities. The
abilities as mentioned previously are, speed/quickness, jumping/leaping, and strength. Hall
(2001) found that “in the recent Los Angeles Summer Olympic games, persons of African
American descent won 40 out of the 49 medals awarded in track and field” (p. 109). This proves
that African American athletic ability has reached a dominating trend amongst worldwide
competition as well. Analyzing these three key sporting leagues will be pivotal in understanding
why African Americans are being stigmatized as having high athletic abilities.
Edwards (1979) explains “In the U.S. the value emphasis in professional sport is oriented
to the interests of middle-class white males who dominate fandom; therefore it becomes
advantageous to maintain a white male presence in the sport, particularly in positions of
leadership and authority” (p. 117). The quarterback position in the NFL is the epitome of
leadership and authority. While it can be argued that it does not take nearly as much athletic
ability as other positions, like wide receiver or running back, it must be acknowledged that the
quarterback is commonly the most intellectually inept position on the gridiron. Gray (2011)
found that “in 2011 there [were] only six Black starting quarterbacks in the National Football
League. There are 32 teams in the NFL” (p. 1). African American quarterbacks typically start for
teams in the NFL that feel they need more “athleticism,” which only contributes to the stigma.
Jerry Rice and Walter Payton, for example, are arguably the best wide receiver and running back,
respectively, in NFL history and both are African Americans. These are two of the most notable
Hall of Fame players that played positions in the NFL requiring the Black stigmatized abilities of
leaping, catching, and running.
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Hall (2001) claims “the universal perception of African American men evolved from a
history of Western racism and stereotype” (p. 105). This is a key contributor to the African
American athletic ability stigma. The intentions of Western racism and stereotype are to
purposely stigmatize a group based on blemishes of individual character know as the tribal
stigma of race (Goffman, 1963, p. 3). The African American men at the time were, “asked to see
[themselves] from the point of view of a second grouping: the normals and the wider society that
they constitute” (Goffman, 1963, p. 114). The European Americans, in the aftermath of their
failure to recognize equality, have perceived African American men as “strong but intellectually
dull: “dumb Black” (Hall, 2001, p. 105). This term “dumb Black” not only implies
unintelligence, but carries the stigma we are currently examining. African American men were
thought by White culture to be physically strong and able bodied as they did not have the
political stance or an educated background that many of the European Americans at the time
possessed. Hall (2001) argues that “the brute stereotype in particular was effective at conveying
the Africans’ mental dullness” (p. 106). The history of European Americans stigmatizing African
Americans as mentally dull but strong leads us primarily back to the organization of professional
sports in America. The European Americans see themselves in positions of leadership and
authority in these leagues, because they feel that these positions require a degree of intellect not
found in the African American community. The African American, by this standard, are to be
considered athletically inclined because of their perceived strength and history of physical
prowess. Hall (2001) concludes this point stating, “In an industry administered and controlled by
European Americans, domination by African American athletes makes the inferior performances
of European Americans a glaring spectacle manifested in professional sports” (p. 109).
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This glaring spectacle only gives more support that the stigmatization of African
Americans, as having a high athletic ability, based solely upon their race exists. Looking closer
at the National Basketball Association, Hall (2001) points out that “it is an accepted belief
worldwide that professional basketball is played better in the United States than any country in
the world” (p. 109). Sailes (1998) elaborates on the “dumb Black” stigma (as cited in Hall, 2001)
stating “the term rationalizes the ability of African American men to run faster and longer and to
jump higher than their European American counterparts as attributed to anatomy and/or genes
and subsequently creates their basketball superiority” (p. 109). An argument against the claim
that African American men have more athletic ability based on anatomy and/or genes can be
made. Condit and Achter (2000) support this claim, “to succeed in a given sport, athletes of all
geographic backgrounds must still train hard, think hard, have facilities, receive good coaching
and live in a culture that values the given sport” (Condit & Achter, 2000).
It is important to know the history of the prevalence of African American players in the
NBA to get a better understanding of why they are stigmatized as having high athletic ability in
today’s society. Edwards (1979) helps us understand:
given the tremendous emphasis placed on basketball in the black community and the fact
that disproportionately high numbers of athletically talented Blacks are channeled into
the sport generally, the pressures upon white owners to sign highly publicized, superior
Black players rather than merely good or excellent White players had to be
overwhelming. (p. 118)
Thus, the more that the superior athletic Black players dominated the sport the more their
perspectives had to be recognized and accommodated for. It can also be stated that, “professional
basketball players are in fact the fastest runners and the most prodigious athletes in the world. It
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is obvious that the dominant NBA population consists of African American men: a fact untrue at
the NBA’s beginning” (Hall, 2001, p. 109). The correlation between professional basketball
players being the most recognized athletes in the world and the dominant population of African
American men in the sport is an undeniable link to the stigma that African Americans are faced
with concerning their expected athletic abilities.
Understanding the thought process of the European American athlete on how they
compare themselves to their African American counterparts in sport is crucial to a full circle
understanding of why European Americans are stigmatizing African American athletes as having
high athletic ability. Hall (2001) mentions that “although many are, most European American
athletes just do not consider themselves strong enough or athletic enough to compete with
African American men, so they do not even try” (p. 110). Brent Barry was a white player in the
NBA who beat 6 other African American men in the 1996 slam dunk contest. Barry himself was
said to have been more grounded in reality than the majority of the European American players
in the league (Hall, 2001, p. 110). Barry admitted that in gyms he has been in across the U.S. he
has seen European American athletes subscribing to the “can’t jump” stereotype. Hall (2001)
explains that just as African American men are stereotyped as “dumb Black,” European
American athletes are stereotypically slow and inept (p. 110). When the comparisons are made
by the European Americans, of themselves, to their African American competitors you can see
why the African American athlete has been stigmatized as possessing high athletic ability. I
argue that a large part of the European American athlete’s mindset revolves around feeling
embarrassed, because they feel they are constantly being overshadowed and in their minds out
played in sport.
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Goffman (1956) makes a claim for embarrassment stating, “He who frequently becomes
embarrassed in the presence of others is regarded as suffering from a foolish unjustified sense of
inferiority” (p. 264). Not only are these European American athletes suffering from the presence
of the African American athletes as they are the dominating majority, however they also suffer
from the foolish unjustified sense of athletic inferiority.
A personal African American friend of mine, whom I met while attending school at
Eastern Washington University, plays various sports with me around campus. The stigma of his
perceived high athletic ability has become clearly visible to me when we play basketball in
particular because I could be considered one of his intimate others. I found it especially relevant
when I noticed him “passing,” as Goffman (1963) would say, amongst his peer group of African
American athletes. This individual does not have a high athletic ability in sport. Goffman (1963)
illustrates that, “When an individual in effect or by intent passes, it is possible for a discrediting
to occur because of what becomes apparent about him, apparent even to those who socially
identify him solely on the basis of what is available to any stranger in the social situation” (p.
75). The discrediting occurs by his African American peers during warm ups, before the game.
When it becomes apparent to his peer group that he does not have a high athletic ability, as their
normative expectations would demand, they choose to discredit him as a highly athletic African
American. Goffman (1963) would concur that, “He possesses a stigma, an undesired
differentness from what we had anticipated” (p. 5).
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References
Achter, P., Condit, C.M. (2000). Not so black and white. American Scientist, 88(3), 277-278.
Edward, H. (1979). Annals of the American academy of political and social science. Sage
Publications, inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social
Science, Vol. 445, 116-127.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Simon & Schuster:
New York.
Goffman, E. (1956). Embarrassment and social organization. The American Journal of
Sociology, 62(3), 264-271.
Hall, R. E. (2001). The ball curve: Calculated racism and the stereotype of african american men.
Journal of Black Studies, 32(1), 104-119.