My scholarship presentation is on Kwame Agyemang, John N Singer, Joshua DeLorme’s research, called “An exploratory study of black male college athletes perception on race and athlete activism.” The research critiques the social structure in athletics and its discrimination toward black male athletes. The study wants to better understand the experiences of black male athletes and to explore the issue with academic performance and graduation rates amongst this group of collegiate athletes. The black athlete is a primary stakeholder group of higher education and college sports to whom scholars, educators, and administrators should pay more attention. An exploratory case study design was used for this study. During the research process, the researchers negotiated access to study participants, conducted purposeful and convenient sampling, and conducted interviews. From these interviews, 4 main themes were generated around race, knowledge, mindset, and responsibility. The study was an important first step in capturing the voices of the important stakeholders, the black male athlete, in big-time college sports programs because of their talent, image, and likeness. The research helped uncover more questions and concerns that we need to better understand about athletic activism as well as the black athlete experience.
Agyemang, K., Singer, J. N., & DeLorme, J. (2010). An exploratory study of black male college athletes’ perceptions on race and athlete activism. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 45(4), 419-435.