The Role Of Racial Integration In Bruin's Football

Racial Integration in Bruin’s Football The year 1939 was a significant year for college football at the University of California Los Angeles. The primarily white dominant sport was not yet integrated. However, the college team in the heart of Los Angeles was unique in the way that it contained five African American football players. Star players Kenneth Washington, Woodrow Strode, and Jackie Robinson held prominent roles on the team as all three played both ways on the gridiron. The Bruins faced conflict when it came to competing against schools from the south. Racial segregation kept southern teams away from UCLA; no one wanted to play a team who refused to follow the unofficial “gentles agreement” rule that allowed coaches to bench black
In the case study “On the Threshold of Broad and Rich Football Pastures” the UCLA Bruins integrated college football during the years 1939-1941. The season of 1939 included five black players including three star players that helped create a strong competing team in the Pacific Coast Conference. Even though “UCLA was not the first major college team to allow African American participants, it was the first to feature a group of black players in starting positions” (Demas, 29). The players, Kenny Washington, Jackie Robinson, and Woodrow Strode, enjoyed playing for UCLA. Not only because they had starting positions, but also because they were accepted on campus. Student publications like the “Daily Bruins celebrated the success of Kenny Washington making him one of the post popular students on campus” (Demas, 31). Even the media outside of UCLA’s campus contributed to the rise of the integrated team. UCLA caught the attention of national sportswriters when starting the season with a 5-0-1
Because of the local support UCLA received they were able to compete as an integrated team. Local UCLA fans understood that Bruins football would not be the same without their start African American players therefore; they chose to support them rather than discriminate. Sportswriters in black newspapers in Los Angeles “were the first to foresee the importance of integration at UCLA beyond the region” (Demas, 39). The Bruins football team symbolized what an integrated nation could look like. The sport sections in local newspapers were constantly filled with optimism for UCLA. In order to promote a positive team image the black press gave Kenny Washington the role of a spokesman for black athletes. In later years, the black press convinced UCLA to hire Washington as their freshman team coach. Like I mentioned earlier Washington, Robinson, and Strode were popular on campus. “Such student support for UCLA’s black athletes helped reinforce the institutions reputation as a racially open campus” (Demas, 34). African American players didn’t let the racial pressures happening within Los Angeles get to them because they felt accepted and wanted on campus. Throughout the chapter Lane Demas argues that the support the racially integrated football team received helped create a local understanding of racial equality on and off the