Document Type
Panel Presentation
Start Date
21-4-2017 10:45 AM
End Date
21-4-2017 12:00 PM
Keywords
minorities, representation, history
Biography
Rachel Shafer is a dedicated student at Marshall University and outside the classroom. She is a member of the John Marshall Emerging Leadership Institute and the National Society of Student Leadership. Despite this being her first year on Marshall’s campus, she is already in sophomore standing due to her taking of college level courses in high school. Outside of the classroom, she works a part time retail job three days a week and has many hobbies. This includes, baking, writing, and playing with her new puppy. Overall, she is a well-rounded young lady.
Major
Dietetics
Advisor for this project
Dr. John Stromski
Abstract
Unequal Playing Time
In his book The American College Town, Blake Gumprecht claims one of the defining features of college towns is that they are more progressive, liberal-minded, and socially-blended spaces. However, this is not the type of college town that appears in Marshall University’s collection of archives. Throughout the years, many groups of students were often overlooked due to minority population status. This presentation examines the lack of recognition for one such group, in particular, women’s athletics during the 1920’s. Student yearbooks published between 1920 and 1930 were analyzed for content featuring men versus women’s athletics.
At the start of the decade in 1920, female athletes were given a one-page segment placed at the end of the athletics section which discussed the athletic classes offered to women. During that same year, there happened to be nine women and seven men on the yearbook’s editorial board. In the following years, the number of women on the editorial board decreased and despite the girl’s athletic association being the largest student organization on campus, so did the amount of recognition for the association. One could easily surmise that the men on the yearbook staff often overlooked women when it came to athletics. However, when men were the bulk of the yearbook editors, women were often most noted for their beauty and popularity, rather than their athletic achievements. Such inconsistencies directly contrast with Gumprecht’s definition of a college town being broadminded and socially incorporated.
Unequal Playing Time
Unequal Playing Time
In his book The American College Town, Blake Gumprecht claims one of the defining features of college towns is that they are more progressive, liberal-minded, and socially-blended spaces. However, this is not the type of college town that appears in Marshall University’s collection of archives. Throughout the years, many groups of students were often overlooked due to minority population status. This presentation examines the lack of recognition for one such group, in particular, women’s athletics during the 1920’s. Student yearbooks published between 1920 and 1930 were analyzed for content featuring men versus women’s athletics.
At the start of the decade in 1920, female athletes were given a one-page segment placed at the end of the athletics section which discussed the athletic classes offered to women. During that same year, there happened to be nine women and seven men on the yearbook’s editorial board. In the following years, the number of women on the editorial board decreased and despite the girl’s athletic association being the largest student organization on campus, so did the amount of recognition for the association. One could easily surmise that the men on the yearbook staff often overlooked women when it came to athletics. However, when men were the bulk of the yearbook editors, women were often most noted for their beauty and popularity, rather than their athletic achievements. Such inconsistencies directly contrast with Gumprecht’s definition of a college town being broadminded and socially incorporated.
