Ethnic Groups
Germans were among the first of the largewaves of Europeans tomigrate to America，where they gained the freedom and rights unavailable in Germany，in the wake of the failed revolution of 1848.Germans began organizing their nationalistic Turner6 gymnastics clubs shortly after their arrival.In the Midwestern cities，by 1885，they managed to adopt the German Turner system as the official physical education program in the Chicago public schools'curriculum.
Czechs，also known as Bohemians，formed Sokols，nationalistic gymnastics organizations similar to the German Turners，as early as 1862 in Prague and soon established their ethnic clubs in the United States.Sokol7 members also returned to Europe for the national slets held in their homeland every six years，thus retaining and reinforcing tieswith themotherland and retarding assimilation efforts of the Progressive reformers in the United States.During the 1910s，Czechs in America adopted the game of soccer，which had become popular in Europe，and formed clubs to compete against other ethnic teams.Although the second generation of Czech youth，born in the United States，was increasingly attracted to American sport forms，such transatlantic ties“allowed ethnics to selectively participate in the American system while retaining their religious and cultural values”.
8-4 Edward James Abbaticchio
Poles also formed nationalistic gymnastics clubs，known as Falcons，in 1867 and transferred them to America.So many Polesmigrated to the United States that Chicago eventually became the second most populous Polish city.
Italians，among the largest group of immigrants from 1880 to 1920，were slower to assimilate.Largely illiterate peasants from a recently liberated country，they had no sense of a national identity and little sporting culture.But with eventual exposure to athletic competition in the public schools，Italian children took readily to the physical activities.As early as the 1890s，Ed Abbaticchio8，the son of Italian immigrants，became one of the first professional football players in the United States.In the summers he played professional baseball，where he earned asmuch as$5，000—evidence of the socialmobility possible for top athletes.By the 1910s，Ping Bodie（Francesco Pizzolo）9 had gained stardom as a slugging outfielder in the American League；but his father disowned him for Anglicizing his name，a dilemma faced by others in the assimilation process.As early as 1899 an Italian blacksmith，Lawrence Brignolia10，won the Boston Marathon，and Italians in America began to develop a sense of an Italian identity.
Aswith urban ethnic-minority groups，reformers used sport and education in attempts to foster assimilation of Native American tribes.The process of formal acculturation began in 1879，with the opening of the Carlisle Indian School11.It housed American Indians from 70 different tribes and imposed on them the English language，vocational skills，and WASP values.Although Native Americans adapted well to baseball，the Carlisle football team constituted themost visible success in the forced assimilation process.The team began play in 1890 and within five years embarked on a national schedule.Football also allowed Native Americans to challenge the Social Darwinists'racial stereotypes by outsmarting their supposedly superior opponents.
8-5 The Evolution of the Indian
African Americans continued to try to find their place in themainstream culture，by the 1890s，rural Southern blacks had begun their prolonged exodus to Northern cities in search of a better life.The growing African American presence in the North supported a number of black baseball teams in the larger cities.By 1900，Chicago supported two black teams，and the Leland Giants，formed in 1905，competed in the Chicago City League against topflightwhite competition.In 1906，the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox won their respective league pennants and met in the World Series.
Black boxers enjoyed the luxury of fighting back.Peter Jackson，a black heavyweight from Australia，fought a 61-round draw with James J.Corbett in 1891，but white champion John L.Sullivan refused to fight Jackson.When Jack Johnson were becoming the first black heavyweight champion in 1908，it led an immediate and ongoing search for“the GreatWhite Hope”whomight restore Anglo-Americans'pride and confidence in their racial superiority.Whites prevailed upon the never-defeated Jim Jeffries to come out of retirement.The historic confrontation took place in Nevada，on July 4，1910，for a purse exceeding$100，000 and including movie rights.Twenty thousand spectators trekked to the blistering desert to witness the affair，and journalists came from as far away as Europe and Australia.Promoter Tex Rickard served as referee.As Johnson won decisively，knocking the Social Darwinist belief in black inferiority.
As themultitude of largely urban，European ethnic groups wrestled with the assimilation efforts of Progressive reformers，other immigrants faced a variety of responses based on prevailing racial and racist sentiments.African Americans were largely ignored or，after the Supreme Court ruling in the Plessy v.Ferguson case12 of 1896，legally segregated from white society in the South.Native Americans，who were conquered but could not be deported，faced forced assimilation in residential boarding schools under white administration.
The perception of sport as a meritocracy，where onemight gain ameasure of wealth and social mobility based on the cherished physicality of the working class，helped defray the discontent of lowerrank citizens.Immigrant parents，often steadfast in their adherence to a strong work ethic and their European cultures，acquiesced to sport as sons brought home additional income derived from semipro or neighborhood contests.
8-6 Jack Johnson Beats Jim Jeffries in 1910
Notes：
1 The Progressive era
The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States that spanned the 1890s to the 1920s.Themain objectives of the Progressivemovement were addressing problems caused by industrialization，urbanization，immigration，and political corruption.
2 white Anglo-Saxon Protestant（WASP）
White Anglo-Saxon Protestants（WASPs）are a social group ofwhite Protestants in the United States，often of British descent，and typically wealthy and well-connected.The group has long dominated American society，culture，and the leadership ofmajor political parties，and had amonopoly on elite society due to intermarriage and nepotism.Although the WASP hegemony on the American establishment has sharply declined since the 1940s，WASPs continue to be well placed in some financial and philanthropic roles.
3 The Haymarket Affair
Itwas the aftermath of a bombing that took place at a labor demonstration on May 4，1886，at Haymarket Square in Chicago.It began as a peaceful rally in support ofworkers striking for an eighthour work day，the day after police killed one and injured severalworkers.
4 Hull House
Hull House（named after the original house's first owner Charles Jerald Hull）was a settlement house in the United States thatwas co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr.Located on the NearWest Side of Chicago，Illinois，Hull House opened to recently arrived European immigrants.By 1911，Hull House had grown to 13 buildings.With its innovative social，educational，and artistic programs，Hull House became the standard bearer for themovement thathad grown，by 1920，to almost 500 settlement houses nationally.
5 Jane Addam s
Jane Addams（September 6，1860—May 28，1935）was an American settlement activist，reformer，social worker，sociologist，public administrator and author.She was a notable figure in the history of socialwork and women's suffrage in the United States and an advocate for world peace.She cofounded Chicago's Hull House，one of America'smost famous settlement houses.
6 Turner
Turners（German：Turner）aremembers of German-American gymnastic clubs called Turnverein.They promoted German culture，physical culture，liberal politics，and supported the Union war effort during the American Civil War.Turners，especially Francis Lieber，1798-1872，were the leading sponsors of gymnastics as an American sport and the field of academic study.
7 Sokol
The Sokolmovement（Czech：[ˈsokol]，falcon）is an all-age gymnastics organization first founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862 by Miroslav Tyršand Jindich Fügner.It was based upon the principle of“a strongmind in a sound body”.The Sokol，through lectures，discussions，and group outings provided what Tyršviewed as physical，moral，and intellectual training for the nation.This training extended tomen of all ages and classes，and eventually to women.
8 Ed Abbaticchio
Edward James Abbaticchio（April 15，1877—January 6，1957）was the firstMajor League Baseball player and first professional football player of Italian ancestry.
9 Ping Bodie（Francesco Pizzolo）
Frank Stephen（Ping）Bodie（October 8，1887—December 17，1961），born Francesco Stephano Pizzolo，was a center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago White Sox（1911—1914），Philadelphia Athletics（1917）and New York Yankees（1919—1921）.Bodie batted and threw right-handed.
8-7 Frank Stephen Bodie
10 Law rence Brignolia
Lawrence Joseph“Larry”Brignolia，sometimes Brignoli，（15 April 1876—13 February 1958）was an American long-distance runner and sculler of Italian descent.Hewon the 1899 Boston Marathon.A 161-pound blacksmith，he is the heaviest person ever to claim victory in the event.He is also the only person to have finished all of the first three Boston Marathons，and one of two runners who participated in all of the first fourmarathons.
11 Carlisle Indian School
The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle，Pennsylvania，generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School.Founded in 1879 under U.S.governmental authority by General Richard Henry Pratt（then a Captain），Carlisle was the first federally-funded off-reservation Indian boarding school.Consistentwith Pratt's belief that Native Americans were“equal”to European-Americans，the School strove to immerse its students into mainstream Euro-American culture，believing they might thus become able to advance themselves and thrive in the dominant society.
12 the Plessy v.Ferguson case
It upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws for public facilities as long as the segregated facilitieswere equal in quality—a doctrine that came to be known as“separate but equal”.