“Civil War on the Racetrack” In the years leading up to the Civil War, North and South put their pride and prestige on the line in a series of intersectional horse races. Fueled by the passions of the debate over slavery in the United States, these were the events that sparked our modern American mania for sport.
Bibliography:
Melvin Adelman, A Sporting Time: New York City and the Rise of Modern Athletics, 1820-1870 (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinoi Press, 1990).
John Eisenberg, The Great Match Race: When North Met South in America’s First Sports Spectacle (Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006).
Benjamin G. Rader, American Sports: From the Age of Folk Games to the Age of Televised Sports (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1999).
Americans love sports. We are fanatics who dress in team colors, root, root, root for the home team, and live and die with the success and failure of our favorite athlete. But if we take the time to look beneath the surface and beyond the simple factual question of who won and who lost, we are also presented with some of the most fascinating stories from our nation’s past.
In this new podcast series Professor Matt Andrews goes beyond telling entertaining tales of races won, touchdowns scored, players rounding the bases, and highlights the historical significance of sports in the United States. He explains to us why sports have mattered so much in this country and he reveals how sports have actually changed the course of American history.
Sports are a highlight reel of history. Join us as we explore the stories that are more than just exciting tales of athletic competitions. American Sport is about some of the most compelling moments and significant turning points in American history.
American Sport is created by Professor Matt Andrews and is an original podcast by Trailblazer Studios, Executive Produced by Katye Rone, and Co-produced by Aurelia Belfield and Casey Helmick.