In 1922, the American
Physical Education Review published a series of articles entitled “Racial
Traits in Athletics.” The author,
non-Jewish physical educator Elmer Mitchell, wrote: “Nowhere, does it seem to
me, can we find people closer and truer to their fundamental character than in
their free and spontaneous play.” The Eugenical
News printed a summary of the
series, which reinforced the dominant racial paradigm in American
society. Mitchell analyzed fifteen
racial groups, although he arranged Latins, The South American, and The Oriental
into broader classifications than the Irish, Greek, or Jew. Mitchell explained that the ‘American’
athlete, “a composite of many races: conspicuously the English, Irish, German,
and Scandinavian,” had become the “greatest in the world.” Southern and eastern Europeans, however, “are
less ready assimilable” than northern Europeans and they illustrated this on
the athletic field.[1]
Mitchell believed
that Jewish athleticism demonstrated Jews’ racial inferiority. “We see the same
distaste of the Jew for outdoor life, his industry in the intellectual side of
his pursuit, his subtlety in applying social or individual weakness to his own
benefit, and his lack of moral sensitiveness.”
He explained that contradictory to public opinion, Jews possessed both
physical and moral courage, although certain “distinctive qualities cling to
the Jew when he participates in athletics.”
Sport did not change the Jewish temperament: “The average Jew is an
unpopular team-mate; he is assertive, individualistic, and quarrelsome.” Mitchell concluded that any observer would
concur “by watching a group of Hebrew children on the playground.” Even more disturbing, Jews’ ability to “face
adverse circumstances” often manifested itself in “the villain role,” which he
believed they seemed to enjoy.[2]
Mitchell’s imaged Jew
remained physically inferior in the small immigrant body. The Jew had vitality, caused by
“clannishness,” sacred family ties, and adaptability to “the bustle and change
of modern commercial life.” This
vitality was “a wonderful thing,” especially since sport did not produce the
physical change many had expected. “The typical Jew is not robust in appearance,”
explained Mitchell. He used football to
prove his point. Only in “exceptional
cases” do Jews star in this team sport, “where size plays so important a
part.” Yet, a small body could help Jews
succeed in other sports. “Along with
boxing and dancing, gymnastics and basket ball are popular, all of them types
of athletic exercise demanding dexterous footwork and dodging ability and
carried on indoors. Basket ball is
easily their favorite sport.”
The unchanged Jewish body reflected, in Mitchell’s
view, Jews’ unchanged intellectual ability that served as an advantage in the
athletic world. Jews retained their mental
advantage as “quick thinkers, alert to grasp the strategy of the game, both of
their own team and of their opponents.” Yet,
the intelligent Jew corrupted pure sport since his “individualistic tendency”
produced “a spirit fostering the professional game, rather than the game which
is played solely for the joy of participating.”[3] Mitchell did not view Jewish athleticism in
similar terms as Henry Ford’s Dearborn
Independent, but he attached negative characteristics to Jewish
intelligence. Mitchell believed that
when Jews willingly participated in American sport, it resulted in professional
or tricky behavior that reflected Jews’ racial inferiority.
[1]
Elmer D. Mitchell, “Racial Traits in Athletics,” American Physical Education
Review 27, no. 3 (March 1922), 93; The summary was in the Eugenical News 7 (1922). Mitchell cited studies from Charles
Davenport, Madison Grant, and other prominent eugenicists. In the late 1910s, the APER included a
permanent eugenics section under its monthly bibliography.
[2]
Elmer D. Mitchell, “Racial Traits in Athletics,” American Physical Education
Review 27, no. 5 (May 1922): 197.
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