Lizzie, Mamie, & Mo'ne
Exploring Issues of Racism, Classism, and Sexism in Baseball
Abstract
This paper considers intersectional social identities of race, class, and gender through an examination of women in baseball from the late 1800s to today. At its core, the article revolves around a fictional character named Lizzie Bright Griffin from Gary Schmidt’s (2004) adolescent novel Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy while interweaving dynamic historic and contemporary baseball figures, including Mamie “Peanut” Johnson and Mo’ne Davis, ultimately inviting readers to consider what it would mean for a new generation of young women to overcome racial prejudice, class differences, and gender discrimination to find opportunity and success in the game of baseball.
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