“Olympian Quintessence”

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.5622/illinois/9780252043482.003.0006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 139-164

Author(s):

Cat M. Ariail

Keyword(s):

Soviet Union ◽

Olympic Games ◽

American Identity ◽

Track And Field ◽

Race And Gender ◽

And Gender ◽

Popular Image

This chapter deconstructs the iconicity of Wilma Rudolph, following the 1960 Olympic Games and continuing through the 1961 and 1962 US–Soviet Union dual track and field meets. Widely admired for her great athleticism and graceful femininity, Rudolph seemed to transcend barriers of race and gender, allowing her to earn acclaim as an American icon. However, while the popular image of Rudolph advertised an ostensibly more inclusive American identity, understandings of her in fact inscribed a disciplinary, exclusive model of Americanness. Both white and black sport cultures redeployed ideologies of race, gender, and femininity to contain the more radical possibilities represented by black women’s athleticism and preserve a more conservative model of American belonging.

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Sprints of Citizenship

10.5622/illinois/9780252043482.003.0003 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 46-80

Author(s):

Cat M. Ariail

Keyword(s):

Black Women ◽

The United States ◽

American Identity ◽

Black American ◽

Race And Gender ◽

Black American Women ◽

Pan American ◽

And Gender ◽

United States Olympic Committee ◽

The Cold War

This chapter examines how the performances of black women athletes at the 1951 Pan-American Games and 1952 Olympic Games made it difficult for the institutions of mainstream American sport to advance an uncontested image of American identity. Due to the conditions of the Cold War, the United States Olympic Committee and Amateur Athletic Union became more committed to using athletes to advertise the believed superiority of American democracy. Because of their race and gender, black women track stars disrupted this project, inserting blackness and femaleness into the image of Americanness through their accomplishments. In doing so, they also demonstrated that sport, despite its conservative connotations, served as a rare cultural space in which black American women could display their capacity and autonomy.

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Introduction

10.5622/illinois/9780252043482.003.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Cat M. Ariail

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Black Women ◽

The United States ◽

Track And Field ◽

Sporting Events ◽

Race And Gender ◽

And Gender ◽

Young Black Women ◽

Track Athletes

This introductory chapter considers the symbolic significance of the baton pass in a track and field relay, using this moment of possibility and precarity to encapsulate the experiences and influence of black women track athletes in the postwar United States. Despite the perpetual precarity of the marginalized sport of women’s track and field, young black women who competed in the sport navigated barriers of race and gender to find possibilities. As they repeatedly represented the United States in international sporting events, they would contest, challenge, and confirm the racial and gender conceptions of American identity. On and off the track, young black women track and field athletes were active agents in the remaking of Americanness.

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Referral Patterns for Youths Identified at Risk for Suicide by Trained Gatekeepers

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000114 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 33 (2) ◽

pp. 113-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Michael S. Rodi ◽

Lucas Godoy Garraza ◽

Christine Walrath ◽

Robert L. Stephens ◽

D. Susanne Condron ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Suicide Prevention ◽

Demographic Characteristics ◽

Service Access ◽

Referral Patterns ◽

Race And Gender ◽

Lee Smith ◽

Prevention Behavior ◽

Key Variables ◽

And Gender ◽

To Receive

Background: In order to better understand the posttraining suicide prevention behavior of gatekeeper trainees, the present article examines the referral and service receipt patterns among gatekeeper-identified youths. Methods: Data for this study were drawn from 26 Garrett Lee Smith grantees funded between October 2005 and October 2009 who submitted data about the number, characteristics, and service access of identified youths. Results: The demographic characteristics of identified youths are not related to referral type or receipt. Furthermore, referral setting does not seem to be predictive of the type of referral. Demographic as well as other (nonrisk) characteristics of the youths are not key variables in determining identification or service receipt. Limitations: These data are not necessarily representative of all youths identified by gatekeepers represented in the dataset. The prevalence of risk among all members of the communities from which these data are drawn is unknown. Furthermore, these data likely disproportionately represent gatekeepers associated with systems that effectively track gatekeepers and youths. Conclusions: Gatekeepers appear to be identifying youth across settings, and those youths are being referred for services without regard for race and gender or the settings in which they are identified. Furthermore, youths that may be at highest risk may be more likely to receive those services.

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