The Veil We Run With: An Examination of the Veil in American Sports

Abstract

When W.E.B. Du Bois argued that the American dilemmas were of the color line and veil, his assessment would remain pertinent today, especially in American sports. Through a multidisciplinary approach to scholarly publications on race in sports and The Souls of Black Folk, this work analyzes the veil and its perversion of Black American athletes throughout American history. By critically examining the flawed historical narratives of American athletics–from the pervasive nature of scientific racism to the notion of primitivity–this essay highlights the ways that the sports veil continually reinforces racist societal perceptions and White supremacy. Despite the perpetual attacks on the Black American athletic identity, Black athletes have always utilized sports as a tool for upward mobility, a necessary resistance to racialization, and a source of cultural pride while debunking racist stereotypes and utilizing their platform for advocacy. Throughout, this essay contends that the dismantling–or lifting–of the sports veil will require introspective reflection, probing, and humanization across the color line. As this work recommends, collective action and continual self-reflection are the only ways America may begin to contend with the legacy of the veil in American sports. And, in truth, lifting the veil will only prove permanently useful if understood and acted upon as a starting line rather than a finish in the ‘race’ to racial progress in America.