Part I. 2 Short Essays
Write a minimum of 1-3 paragraphs for each short essay. The essays should include analysis (arguments/ideas) supported by evidence (historical content). There will be three options in the exam, but you will write only two short essays.
Possible Short Essay Questions:
1. When we think of the Mexico City 1968 Olympics, we remember the dramatic stand of Tommie Smith and John Carlos, members of the Olympic Project for Human Rights. Much more was going on in the build-up to those Games. Why were Mexican students organizing protests in 1968, and how did their ideas align with OPHR and other movements around the world? What happened to the Mexican student movement in the days leading up to the Opening Ceremony?
2. Samuel Regalado's chapter in Sports Matters and the film Sleeping Tigers present some early history of Japanese American and Japanese Canadian baseball. How did Nisei (second-generation Japanese) men develop a style of play to celebrate both Japanese heritage and American citizenship and identity? How does baseball help us learn a bit about the experience of Japanese Americans and Japanese Canadians during World War II?
3. Taken together, the films The '99ers and Branded present some ideas related to the growing popularity of women's sports in the United States, and also forces at work to restrict this growth. What historical context (social, cultural, political, economic) helps to explain the power and success of the 1999 women's national team? What forces, presented in Branded, limit opportunities for women in sport?
4. How does Walter LaFeber construct his argument that the best way to understand late 20th century globalization is to understand Michael Jordan?
5. In his chapter on Tiger Woods in Sports Matters, Henry Yu argues that "making sense of why Tiger Woods was so loudly heralded as a savior of golf-and, at times, for America and for the world-helps trace the changing politics of racial difference." What does Yu mean, and how does he trace the changes over time in racial and cultural categories in the United States?
Part II. 1 Long Essay
The long essay should include multiple (at least 2) paragraphs. The essay should include analysis (arguments/ideas) supported by evidence (historical content). There will be two options, but you will write only one long essay.
Possible Long Essay Questions:
1. Drawing from at least 4 different sources (chapters from Sports Matters and films), demonstrate the various ways in which ethnic and racial communities within the United States have used the sport of baseball to celebrate both unique ethnic and racial heritage and American citizenship and identity.
2. Explain the big business decision behind the implementation of the color line in early professional baseball. Why did the color line represent a compromise between management and labor?
3. How has the equal opportunity to participate in school sports been defined as a civil right? Is there a distinction between operating from a philosophy of expanding women's sporting opportunities and focusing on compliance with the law?
4. How does The Ohio State University Marching Band transform spectators into participants? How do the play, ritual, and festival elements of game day hold both local and national identity purposes?