Past Institutes

Teaching U.S. History Through Sports (Summer 2026 Webinar Series)

From July 20–21, 2026, Humanities Texas held a webinar series exploring how sports have shaped and reflected U.S. history.

Throughout American history, sports have pulled people together, compelled investments of resources and spirits, and inspired musings on their larger significance. Because of their profound appeal and power, sports provide multiple lenses into the past; the history of politics, business, and religion; and categories such as race, class, and gender.

Curriculum

Content aligned with the TEKS. Sessions included:

• July 20: “Sports Get Into Everything”: Patterns of American Sports History— This session explored the wide intellectual appeal of sports in the United States. It focused on distinct moments that, together, can illustrate how to employ sports as a lens into diverse themes in American history.
• July 21: “Eat Your Words!”: Sports and the Black Freedom Struggle—This session explored the role of Black athletes in the quest for racial democracy in the United States concentrating on how sports framed debates about justice in the midst of the civil rights movement.

Like all Humanities Texas teacher programs, the webinar series emphasized developing effective pedagogical strategies. The schedule is available here.

Faculty

Aram Goudsouzian (University of Memphis) led the webinar series.

Sponsors

The webinar was made possible with major funding from the State of Texas with ongoing support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.