Race, Gender, and the American Stadium

From the beginning of their emergence in the United States, stadiums were political spaces, as elites turned games into celebrations of war, banned women from the press box, and enforced racial segregation. By the 1920s, they also became important sites of protest as activists increasingly occupied the stadium floor to challenge racism, sexism, homophobia, fascism, and more. Following the rise of the corporatized stadium in the 1990s, this complex history was largely forgotten. But today’s athlete-activists, such as Colin Kaepernick and Megan Rapinoe, belong to a powerful tradition in which the stadium is as much an arena of protest as a place of pleasure.

About the Speakers

is the Dr. Kenneth and Kareitha Forde Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies. He is also Professor of History and the Executive Director of the Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights at Columbia. He is an award-winning historian whose recent research has focused on sport history, urban history, and the history of American social movements. His most recent book, The Stadium: An American History of Politics, Protest, and Play (Basic Books, 2024) tells the story of the American stadium as an institution that has played a central role in American civic and political life and in the struggles for social justice from the 19th century until the present. His previous book, The Sports Revolution: How Texas Changed the Culture of American Athletics (University of Texas Press, 2021) explored how Texas-based sports entrepreneurs and athletes from marginalized backgrounds transformed American sporting culture during the 1960s and 1970s, the highpoint of the Black Freedom and Second-Wave feminist movements.

is the William B. Ransford Professor of English and Comparative Literature and African-American Studies at Columbia University and was the inaugural chair of its African American and African Diaspora Studies Department (2019 - 2021). She serves as program director for The Schomburg Center's Scholars-in-Residence Program. In 2021 she was a Guggenheim Fellow. Her activism has centered on issues of education, poverty and gender equity especially as they impact women and children. She currently sits on the board of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol, an organization that provides comprehensive, holistic and long-term support services to youth in Central Harlem.

Host or Publisher The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities