Quest, 2011, 63, 275-288
© 2011 National Association for Kinesiology and Physical Education in Higher Education
Meet Me at the Crossroads: African
American Athletic and Racial Identity
Albert Y. Bimper, Jr. and Louis Harrison, Jr.
How individuals define themselves has considerable implications within the realms
of sport. Considering the large proportion of African Americans participating in
high profile college sports, matters of identity likely become quite relevant. This
article addresses issues related to athletic and racial identity contextualized in the
sport domain. The potential relationship between athletic identity (Brewer, Van
Raalte, & Linder, 1993) and the conceptualization of African American racial
identity are explored. The framework of the Multidimensional Model of Racial
Identity (MMRI; Sellers, Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998) is used to
investigate the potentially varied perceptions of African American collegiate student athletes’ racial identities. Specifically, the salience and centrality of athletic
identity, in addition, the roles that the multiple ideologies of the MMRI may play
in sport are discussed. Directions for future research of the intersection of race
and sport are forwarded.
For some, sport is more than merely a game to play; rather it is a means of
defining self. Recently, there has been an increased interest in identity issues of
African Americans, in particular of how they define themselves (Cokley & Chapman, 2008; Sellers, Copeland-Linder, Martin, & Lewis, 2006; Yip, Seaton, & Sellers, 2006). However, less is known about the defining of self in African American
athletes, particularly African American collegiate athletes. The junctures of race and
sport are critical points to further understand the interaction of African Americans
in sport in our current society. Although some early race discourse made pleas of
racial genetic differences in sport, the emphasis of race in this paper is centered
on the shared experiences of African Americans, rather than any unsubstantiated
biological differences (Harrison, Lee, & Belcher, 1999; Harrison & Moore, 2007).
The social construction of race, because of the implications of historical experiences, often has important meaning to African Americans in American society.
Du Bois (1903) postulated that Black people experience a double consciousness.
Meaning, Black people grappled with being both a Negro and an American. This is
due to a conflict of other’s negative view of Blacks and Blacks’ own self-concepts.
Similarly, African American athletes possess a modern day double consciousness.
Identifying with being African American and as an athlete are two salient selfconcepts that African American athletes may struggle to negotiate (Steinfeldt,
The authors are with the Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Texas at Austin.
275
276 Bimper and Harrison
Reed, & Steinfeldt, 2010), and apply meaning under an umbrella of others’ negative stereotypes.
The social environment of sport provides an ideal opportunity to study how
people make sense of self within sport (Coakley, 2009). People have multiple
identities that contribute to their definitions of self. Identities are often based on
the roles that people occupy (e.g., athlete, student). One’s structural role positions
can constitute how one potentially defines self (Hogg, Terry, & White, 1995).
Individuals participating in sports are commonly socially evaluated and identified
by others as athletes. As others continually recognize individuals based on their
sport participation, these sport participants are likely to identify themselves in this
same manner based upon the most prominent role in which the majority of others
recognize them. Thus, this structural role as a socially identified athlete becomes
self-defining. Sports may also provide a venue that many individuals seek to express
their cultural identification (Coakley, 2009). Stryker and Burke (2000) postulate
identities create value, and consequently increase salience and group commitment.
The proportion of African American athletes represented in elite level revenue
generating sports compared with the almost thirteen percent of African Americans
in the United States population is extremely high. Lapchick (2009b) reports the
high proportion of African American athletes participating in sports such as football
and basketball of the NBA, NFL, and NCAA ranging from nearly 47–77% of the
participating athletes. Due to the magnitude of attraction that sport culture appears
to generate for many young African American athletes, the consciousness of an athletic identity paralleled with a racial identity may be quite dynamic. Race discourse
has been present in much of sport literature in terms of socials relations, racial
diversity and discrimination issues. However, less is known of how individuals’
self-conceptualization is derived and differs according to race in the sport domain.
African American sport participation has generally been concentrated to only
a few high profile sports (e.g., football, basketball) in the United States in the past
few decades (Coakley, 2009). These high profile sports often provide the opportunity for funding college expenses and considerable financial gains for athletes
who ascend to the professional ranks. Although African American females have
recently made great gains in sport participation opportunities over the past years,
the degree to which African American males’ have pursued sport has commanded
a deep interest in sport research (e.g., Melendez, 2008; Singer 2005b, 2008; Steinfeldt, Reed, & Steinfeldt, 2010). Nevertheless, as the staggering representation
of African American male and female athletes exists in a limited range of sports,
continued research should examine the amalgamation of race and sport. The study
of this relationship may provide greater understanding of how individuals perceive
and manage their self-concepts. Knowledge gained from thoroughly investigating
the interactions of race and sport have the practical implications of aiding sport
practitioners to revaluate how the magnitude of sport culture’s influence and their
interactions with minority student athletes may have an impact on how these student
athlete view themselves.
Accordingly, this article intends to review pertinent self-identity issues among
African American athletes, in particular collegiate student athletes. Specifically,
this article is intended to reflect on issues of both athletic identity and African
American racial identity. This article aims to review the salience of the constructs
to current sport culture. Due to the linkage of academic eligibility requirements for
African American Athletic and Racial Identity 277
student athletes to allow continued participation in their sport, it is also important
to address African American student athletes’ consciousness of identity issues in
association to beliefs in spheres such as the classroom.
This Game Is My Life . . .
Presumably, the attraction to sport often begins at an early age for many athletes.
As many young athletes engage in competitive sport they may envision themselves
reaching some of the pinnacles of their sport as professionals. These hopeful dreams
often sprout from being inundated by media sport coverage and the exaltation of
sport within the local community. But to access the opportunities that competitive
sport can provide, young athletes must dedicate a vast amount of time improving
upon their sport talents and skills. Thus, as sport training routines become rooted
in the daily life, sport becomes a very salient aspect to these athletes’ lives.
Brewer, Van Raalte, and Linder (1993) define athletic identity as the degree
to which an individual identifies with the role of an athlete. Expanding upon this
definition, Good et al. (1993) contend that identification with the athlete role is
linked to the strength and exclusivity of that identity. Webb, Nasco, Riley, and
Headrick (1998) argue that athletic identity usually forms early in one’s years of
sport participation. After the recognition of early sport talent in young athletes,
the consistent development of their talents and sports skills may lead toward an
internalization of athletic identity (Webb et al.). Athletic identity is regarded as
both a cognitive structure and a social role (Brewer, Van Raalte, & Linder, 1993).
Athletic identity, as a cognitive structure, serves to systematically interpret and
organize information and influence behaviors related to the athletic role (Brewer,
Van Raalte, & Linder, 1993; Horton & Mack, 2000). Considering the social nature
of sport, development of an athletic identity by means of social identification and
evaluation, concedes that identification with the athlete role is influenced by others’
perceptions (Brewer, Van Raalte, & Linder, 1993; Li & Andersen, 2008).
The small proportion of young athletes able to continue their sport careers in
college generally enter into institutions where athletics are an integral part of the
university or college (Melendez, 2008). Oftentimes, since African American student athletes foresee few other perceived routes to becoming successful outside of
sport, an emphasis on athletics is vital to make it (Hodge et al., 2008). Despite the
high status, visibility, and adulation that collegiate student athletes receive, especially those in high profile revenue generating sports at their college institutions,
the experience of college sport participation is quite demanding. College student
athletes are expected to surrender a great deal of their time and effort in preparation
for sport competition. Thus, their dedicated time and effort commitments insure a
significant amount of their college experience, in addition to earlier years, is spent
in the role of an athlete.
In a recent qualitative study, Singer (2008) interviewed several African
American college athletes, which detested being addressed as student athletes.
The participants defended their stance arguing that the expectant time constraints
and physical demands imposed upon them suggested athlete-student was a more
accurate title (Singer, pp. 403). One participant stated, “we are here to play sports.
. . . We’re athletes first because the time is so demanding and what not” (pp. 403).
278 Bimper and Harrison
Singer postulates that participant comments suggest that college athletic stakeholders, such as coaches, administrators and academic counselors, commonly encourage
and desire African American male athletes to identify primarily with the athlete
role. Existing empirical research has also shown that strong athletic identity may
negatively compromise and be detrimental to academic achievement, behavior
choices, and transitioning out of sport (Beamon & Bell, 2006; Harrison, Harrison, &
Moore, 2002; Webb et al., 1998). A strong athletic identity may cause an athlete to
be less vested in their education pursuits, which may in turn limit career options and
create a difficult process for student athletes to move beyond their role as an athlete.
Conceivably, few alternative identities in elite athletes are as prominent as their
athletic identity during their athletic career. However, one’s racial identity may be
considered as one of the few others. Existing literature asserts that athletic and
racial identity coexists in parallel fashion (Brown et al., 2003; Harrison, Harrison,
& Moore, 2002; Harrison & Moore, 2007). Sport is often been viewed as a means
for upward mobility for African Americans by the African American community
and others (Edwards, 2000; Gaston, 1986; Harris, 1994). Nonetheless, athletes’
commitment to their respective sport and extensive positioning in an athletic role
may dominate their alternative social and personal identities, particularly for
African American student athletes. Though it is likely a choice to continue sport
participation, lengthy exposure to sport and the level of commitment toward one’s
sport contribute to his or her degree of athletic identity
African American Underneath the Jersey . . .
Acknowledgment that “race matters” in the sport domain (see Coakley, 2009, pp.
282–318; Harrison & Moore, 2007), provides a rationale for examining racial
identity issues associated with sport involvement. Examining racial identity is
particularly pertinent to understanding its association to other salient identities of
African American athletes. The development of African American racial identity
has received much interest in extant African American psychological literature (e.g.,
Cokley & Chapman, 2008; Cross, 1971; Parham & Helms, 1985; Jackson, 2001).
However, a gap still persists in our limited understanding of African American
racial identity related to sport participation.
The most popular model used to understand African American racial identity
has been Cross’s (1971, 1991, 1995) model of Nigrescence. This model was initially
coined the Negro-to-Black conversion experience (Cross, 1971) and has since been
revised and updated by Cross (1991, 1995) and Cross and Vandiver (2001). The
model was revised and updated to clarify stage descriptions, clusters of identities,
and reduce the described stages from five to four: a description of internalizationcommitment was removed. See Cross (1991), Cross and Vandiver (2001), and
Vandiver et al. (2002) for further explanation. Considering the importance of the
relationship between racial and athletic identity issues, recent researchers have
advocated for the implications of Cross’s theoretical model for future research
centered on African American racial and athletic identities in sport (Harrison,
Harrison, & Moore, 2002; Harrison & Moore, 2007)
The current expanded Nigrescence model (Cross & Vandiver, 2001) is a four
stage model describing the process of becoming Black and consists of eight racial
African American Athletic and Racial Identity 279
identity clusters. These identity clusters are represented by three preencounter, two
immersion–emersion, and three internalization identities. Scholars have contended
that individuals may enter at varied stages, as well as potentially recycle through
their Nigrescence process (Cross, 1991; Parham, 1989). Despite the popularization
of Nigrescence, the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity (MMRI; Sellers,
Smith, Shelton, Rowley, & Chavous, 1998) has gained esteem in the study of
African American racial identity. In contrast to the developmental focus of racial
identity happening through life stages (e.g., Nigrescence), the MMRI is centered on
one’s scope of racial identity at a particular period of time (Sellers, Smith, Shelton,
Rowley, & Chavous, 1998), such as the years spent as a college athlete. The MMRI
presumes African American racial identity is one of many hierarchically ordered
self-concepts that influence the way one perceives oneself. The MMRI attends to
one’s conceptualization of the relative importance of race juxtaposed to their other
perceived identities, such as athletic identity.
There are four dimensions proposed within the MMRI: salience, centrality, regard, and ideology. Three scales within the Multidimensional Inventory of
Black Identity (MIBI) measuring facets of racial centrality, regard, and ideology
operationalize the dimensions of the MMRI. Salience, the degree to which race
is relevant to oneself concept, is not included within the scales due to being influenced by situational factors (Sellers et al., 2003), and is best qualitatively measured
(Sellers et al., 1998). Nonetheless, all dimensions of this model represent ways of
manifesting African American racial identity (Sellers, Copeland-Linder, Martin,
& Lewis, 2006).
Racial Centrality and Regard
Racial centrality refers to the degree to which one perceives their race as essential
to their self-definition (Sellers et al., 1998). Although it is probable that race is a
prominent aspect to oneself-conceptualization, particularly of people of color in
America due to the history of race relations and perceptions of race in the United
States, it may be presumptuous to assume race is the most central of self-concepts.
For instance, the centrality of an individual’s perception of their race may compete
with the perceived strength and exclusivity of identifying with the athlete role.
Racial regard refers to how good a person feels about their race. The dimension
of racial regard is construed in terms of both private and public regard. The dual
roles of racial regard seem closely linked to the conceptualization of the both cognitive and social roles of athletic identity; athletes garner a personal interpretation
of the athlete role in addition to a degree of affect resulting from social evaluation.
MMRI Racial Ideologies
Racial Ideology is defined as individuals’ beliefs of how other African Americans
should interact and view society around them. Racial ideology is comprised of the
following four distinct dimensions: 1) assimilationists, which highlight the similarities between African Americans and American mainstream society; 2) humanists,
which highlight the similarities between all humans; 3) nationalists, which highlight
the exclusivity of being of African descent; and 4) oppressed minority ideologists,
which stress the similarities between African Americans and other oppressed groups
280 Bimper and Harrison
(see Sellers et al., 1997; Sellers et al., 1998). These four ideological dimensions
will be further discussed in later sections.
In many instances, an African American athlete’s viewpoint of his or her surrounding environments is plausibly ambiguous (e.g., distorted in comparison with
nonathlete peers because of their role as an athlete), due to the general nature of
and adornment of sport on college campuses and in American culture. In particular,
college athletes operate in environments filled of adulation by fans, media promotion, and institutional support staffs for personal, athletic and academic development. On the contrary to positive experiences, African American athletes may also
experience difficulties with faculty interactions, negative stereotyping of academic
competencies, preparedness, athletic abilities, and personal dispositions accentuated by their athlete status (Comeaux & Harrison, 2007; Sailes & Harrison, 2008).
Athletes have an often unique perspective of society because of their status
and platform from which they experience society. Their immersion in sport culture
and the athlete role can mask awareness of prevalent issues in our society such
as race (Lapchick, 1996). Athletes socialized to develop strong athletic identities
may develop shrouded perceptions of race as result of sport norms (Brown et al.,
2003). Coaches frequently employ many methods to encourage team unity among
their diverse group of athletes (Jackson et al., 2002). However, the subtle and overt
color-blind rhetoric reinforcing that only athletes, and not race, wear a jersey on
the team masks the role of race in sport. This misleading ideology that stakeholders
in sport often use to avoid dialogues of race is analogous to the metaphor of race
playing the role of the silent elephant sitting at the end of the players’ bench. It is
apparent that different races of athletes sign college scholarships and compete on
Saturdays, particularly African Americans, but the obvious issue remains unmentioned and thus intentionally avoided. Therefore, society and sport stakeholders
consistently socialize athletes to view themselves in terms of their athletic role,
rather by race. The relevance and interactions of the four MMRI ideologies with
sport are discussed in the following sections.
Assimilationists. The racial ideologies described in the MMRI have vast impli-
cations for African American athletes. It is plausible for two individuals to have
similar identifications with their race group, yet have differing feelings about the
group, beliefs about others attitudes toward the group, and philosophies of group
membership meanings (Sellers & Shelton, 2003). According to the MMRI, an African American athlete ascribing to a more assimilationist ideology may emphasize
adapting to the mainstream American culture. Assimilationists believe it necessary
African Americans use the inner workings of a current system to create systematic
social change as an interactive participant within that very system (Sellers et al.,
1998). Relevant to sport culture, an African American athlete with an assimilationist
ideology may believe it more viable to blend into and adopt dominant sport norms
to illicit social changes concerning race issues from the athlete role. Sellers and
colleagues’ perspective of an assimilationist working from within group with a
consciousness for social change is slightly different than others’ conceptualization
of assimilation. An alternative conceptualization of assimilation argues assimilation happens via conforming or homogenous integration into a dominant system
or norm (e.g., Banks, 2008; Vasta, 2007). This alternative conceptualization of
assimilation may challenge one’s ability to remain mindful of social change while
adapting into the mainstream.
African American Athletic and Racial Identity 281
Nonetheless, the potential of having an assimilationists ideology, according
to Sellers et al. (1998), may be exacerbated by dominant sport structures. African
Americans have benefited from a recent hiring spree of head football coaching
positions in the NCAA during late 2009 into early 2010 including Ruffin McNeil,
Turner Gill, Charlie Strong, and Mike London who were most recently named
head football coaches of college programs at East Carolina, Kansas, Louisville
and Virginia, respectively. But still remains, is a majority of White men who fill
collegiate and professional coaching and administrative positions in high profile
sports (e.g., Lapchick, 2008). Thus, African American athletes continue to function
within a sport system dominated by Whites.
African American athletes may instill an assimilationist ideology as means
of coping strategies within the structural framework of college sport. This belief
may correlate with stronger athletic identity to blend with sport norms of vested
time and effort commitments necessary for sport preparation. Assimilationists most
likely believe their racial identity germane to their self-concept, yet the centrality
of their racial identity may quite possibly be eclipsed by the centrality of athletic
identity to fulfill the norms of sport culture. An assimilationist ideology may likely
interchange with other ideologies throughout an athletic career based on interaction
experiences with others, age, and transitions out of sport. The interchangeability
of ideologies resembles the potential of fluctuation in Cross’s (1991, 1995) stage
model of Nigrescence.
Humanists. A humanist perspective does not make distinction between race,
gender, and class lines (Sellers et al., 1998), rather views all people equal. Sellers
and colleagues contend that the concerns of humanists are on a more “global” scale
in terms of such issues as the peace, and hunger. Similar to an assimilationist, a
humanistic ideology in sport is likely a product of sport culture that deemphasizes
distinguishing of individual characteristics by race. The combination of some
coaches that avoid race issues and discussions with others that might espouse
the idea of an even “playing field” when racial differences are evident between
competing player and/or teams may develop or reinforce a humanist ideology of
human equality.
There are potential advantages and disadvantages to having a humanist ideology in sport. This ideology may be perceived best by coaches and governing
bodies in sport to unify organizations for the purposes of team cohesiveness and
potential positive team performances, but have detrimental influence on the ideologies formed by African American athletes. The role of a coach in sport is similar
to that of the role of a teacher in the classroom. Ladson-Billings (2009) recounts
her experiences of teachers uttering statements like, “I don’t really see color, I just
see children. . . . I don’t care if they’re red, green, or polka dot, I just treat them all
like children” (pp. 34). Similarly, a coach with a humanist ideology might choose
to disregard color differences of his or her athletes in an attempt to treat them all
the same. The pursuit to insure equality in sport culture has many coaches and
governing administrators “equating equality with sameness” (pp. 36). Coaches
and sport administrators may recognize race differences but avoid this discourse to
attend to perceived important issues of their jobs such as the peace, cohesiveness
and management of team functioning. However, these beliefs mask the differences
that do exist and prevent the quality of formed relationships beyond the traditional
and often superficial coach-player roles.
282 Bimper and Harrison
The humanist ideologies of some coaches and sport administrators may have a
trickle-down effect permeating the developing ideologies formed by African American athletes. This ideology can suppress athletes’ perceptions of other identities such
as their racial identity and potentially encourage the centrality of identifying with
their athlete role based on others perceptions (e.g., beliefs about public regard). The
implications of a humanist ideology may also influence the relationships between
teammates of African American athletes with these beliefs. Distinctively different
ideologies between African American teammates can potentially lend to dichotomous relationships preventing degrees of bonding and role-based relationships.
Humanist athletes choosing not see racial differences between athletes, coaches,
and administrators inevitably may not see these individuals at all. They inherently
choose not to recognize linkages of historical pasts and current realities of these
individuals. Thus, their choice to exclude race from their viewpoint may impede their
ability to understand and interact with these individuals beyond the surface level.
Oppressed Minority. This philosophy highlights the commonalities of oppression
faced by African Americans and other perceived oppressed groups. An individual
adopting this ideology is inherently conscious of the continual oppressions faced
by African Americans and related oppression experienced by other minority groups.
Coalition building is a probable strategy used within this ideology to promote social
changes (Sellers et al., 1998). An oppressed minority ideology is likely not a dominant philosophy of African American athletes within in the sport domain. However,
African American athletes may be partial to this belief system outside of the sport
context. In particular, an African American athlete might use this philosophy as a
coping strategy and method of understanding in other contexts (e.g., classrooms)
where they perceive the oppressive nature of others’ directed negative stereotyping.
The social visibility accompanying a student athlete in high profile revenue
generating sports on campus makes shedding the athlete role in situations outside
of sport such as the classroom nearly impossible. African Americans face many
obstacles in the campus environment and of the classroom because of the duality
of being both African American and a college athlete. Previous research indicates
segments of faculty and other students often harbor adverse attitudes about African
Americans students and student athletes’ academic competencies and preparedness
(Comeaux & Harrison, 2007; Engstrom & Sedlacek, 1991; Engstrom, Sedlacek, &
McEwen, 1995; Sailes, 1998; Simons, Bosworth, Fujita, & Jensen, 2007). African
American student athletes are annually recruited for their athletic prowess. However,
a large proportion of these recruits are academically underprepared, yet expected to
equally compete with nonathlete students (Hodge et al., 2008). Therefore, African
American student athletes are continually encountering pervasive stereotypes of
intellectual inferiority (Harrison, 2001). Thus, the fluidity of ideological perspectives allows for some African American athletes to possibly divert from a dominant
ideological perspective to cope with an oppressively perceived environment like
the classroom.
Nationalists. A nationalist ideology, similar to oppressed minority, emphasizes
the significance of race. African American nationalists highlight the exclusivity
of the African American experience (Sellers et al., 1997). Sellers et al. (1998)
contend that those with nationalistic perspective may intentionally seek participation in African American organizations and activities. One’s appreciation and
awareness of African American culture and accomplishments may encourage the
African American Athletic and Racial Identity 283
development of an African American nationalist ideology. An African American
nationalistic perspective can emerge from a deep appreciation of the groundbreaking and continual success of African Americans in sport (see Sailes, 1998). As
well, incidences of marginalization in the sport domain such as athlete stacking,
graduation rates, and the underrepresentation of African American coaches and
administrators (Lapchick, 2008; Sailes & Harrison, 2007; Smith & Harrison, 1996)
may encourage African Americans in the sport to endorse an African American
nationalistic ideology. Both an awareness of achievements and marginalization
may support ones African American nationalistic philosophy (Sellers et al., 1998).
Those with an African American nationalistic perspective often have an affinity
of social environments with large African American representation (Sellers et al.,
1998), which may include the sport domain.
An African American nationalist ideology may, however, be problematic in the
sport context. African American nationalist athletes taking on a stance of activism
to combat issues of African American marginalization in sport may then be socially
construed as disruptive, radical, or an activist. The norms of sport culture acting
through coaching or sport administration will mostly likely seek to suppress these
“activist” or “militant” behaviors to implement control (Lapchick, 1996). Thus, an
African American nationalist ideology may result in the isolation of athletes in an
attempt to maintain the status quo of sporting environment and culture.
A norm of elite sport culture (e.g., college) is that athletes are expected to
commit most of their time to their sport. Anecdotal evidence suggests that athletes
are often discouraged from alternative campus activities due to their sport commitments. For African American athletes with an African American nationalist
ideology the desire to join and engage in African American social groups and
activities (e.g., historically African American fraternities or sororities, student
centers for African American students) is largely censored by mandatory schedules
and expected commitments (e.g., film, training, practice, study hall times) of their
athletic departments. The daily schedules of many athletes in high profile revenue
generating sports have been anecdotally suggested to purposefully occupy the time
of athletes as preventative measures to keep athletes out of troublesome situations.
Thus, these embedded methods of control in the daily schedules and expected commitments for athletes, particularly of African American athletes, may bring about
athletic identity to the forefront of one’s self-concept. The consequences of these
control methods are possibly that athletic identity overshadows racial identity and
creates a more docile African American nationalist ideology.
Previous Junctions of Racial and Athletic Identity
Although yielding beneficial information, prior research of the relationships between
racial identity and sport have been limited. Jackson et al. (2002) used only a single
item to assess beliefs of the importance of belonging to a race group to represent
racial identity centrality. In another previous study, Brown et al. (2003) explored
the relationships of racial discrimination and racial and athletic centrality among
collegiate student athletes. This study found that, in contrast to their White athlete
counterparts, African American racial centrality was masked by more central
beliefs of athletic identity. In addition, African American athletes with high athletic
centrality were significantly associated with perceptions that racial discrimination
was nonexistent. The race beliefs of African American athletes may be explained
284 Bimper and Harrison
by the different dimensions of racial identity of the MMRI (Sellers et al., 2006)
and the norms of sport culture.
In a more recent study, Steinfeldt, Reed, and Steinfeldt (2010) employed the
MIBI to investigate links between African American football players’ perceptions
of racial identity, athletic identity, and adjustment to college between predominately
White institutions (PWI) and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU).
Findings from this study revealed the presence of all ideological dimensions among
the sampled participants, yet the African American nationalist ideology associated
with lower institutional adjustment. This association supports the suggestion that
a nationalist ideology is discouraged in sport culture. The majority of participants
in this study were freshman. The younger age of participants might indicate that
these student athletes are being socialized in the early years of developing their
athletic and racial identities. The centrality of athletic identity may be attributed to
their immersion in dominant sport culture and norms. Interestingly, a significant
relationship between racial centrality and athletic identity was not supported in this
study (Steinfeldt et al., 2010). In spite of the knowledge yielded from Steinfeldt
and colleagues and other studies, many questions about the intermingling of race
and sport still remain to be explored.
The Future Crossroads of Race Identity
and Athletic Identity Research
Race, as part of oneself-concept, and distinguishable early in one’s life, is a very
salient factor for African Americans (Harrison, Lee, & Belcher, 1999). But the role
of an athlete might shift this aspect of a self into the shadows of athletic identity
in African American athletes’ self-conceptualizations. The complexity to explicate
African American racial identity within our constantly evolving societies remains
a difficult task. The beliefs, attitudes, and meanings associated to being African
American differs between individuals (Sellers et al., 1998, 2006) and between
the varied sectors of the general African American community (Demo & Hughes,
1990). Inspired by African American psychological research, the value of and
scholarly understanding of minority participants in sport and their social experiences remain vague, diluted, and fractional at best if race is not reflected within
fields of kinesiology (Duda & Allison, 1990). Scholars sensitive to the complexities
of race, including those who were once student athletes, may provide insightful
perspectives yielding useful knowledge to this field of research.
Race and sport have become inseparable. However, researchers should be cautious to presume that African American athletes are cognizant of this seemingly
apparent relationship based on athletes perspectives generally cast through the
lens of sport culture. In the minds of African American athletes, there may be little
negotiation to define self between athletic and racial identities. Being socialized to
identify with the athlete role has possibly created an athletic identity totalitarian
reign over all other relevant aspects of their self-concept for the time being.
Future research should continue to investigate the existence of multiple ways
athletic identity may be possibly associated with racial identity and the various
ideological dimensions. The fluidity of racial centrality, regard, and ideologies
should be explored by age, student classification, and the role disparities of athletes.
African American Athletic and Racial Identity 285
African American gender differences should also be explored due to growing
participation and opportunities for females in higher profile sports. Longitudinal
studies will likely provide useful knowledge of these constructs and their potential
relationships. In line with concern of African American athletes’ academic underachievement compared with White athlete counterparts (Beamon & Bell, 2006;
Lapchick, 2000, 2009a), associations of athletic and racial identity perceptions
with academic competencies should also be explored.
Analysis of identity and role salience is an imperative step to further understand how African Americans manage their athletic, racial, and student roles and
identities (Steinfeldt, Reed, & Steinfeldt, 2010; Settles, Sellers, & Dumas, 2002).
In identifying the problematic nature of addressing role salience via questionnaires,
Sellers et al. (1998) postulates mix-method approaches to study racial identity may
yield greater beneficial knowledge. Accordingly, critical qualitative approaches are
likely useable mechanisms to expound a rich understanding of African American
student athletes’ beliefs and experiences. Critical race theory is an applicable paradigm sport scholars should consider in sport research (Singer, 2005a). Critical race
theory is a vital framework for the deconstruction, reconstruction, and construction
of the race discourse and social justice (Ladson-Billings, 1998). The utility of this
theoretical framework has potential to provide substantial knowledge of relevant
issues in sport offered in the present paper and shed light on the lived experiences
of African American athletes. Understanding the reciprocal effects of race and
sport may provide a more fruitful comprehension and consciousness of African
Americans development and conceptualization of self throughout their athletic
and physical activity pursuits. This knowledge has the potential to encourage sport
practitioners to consider how their beliefs, practices, and the current structures of
sport culture may positively or detrimentally influence the identity construction
and perceptions of African American student athletes.
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