Theses and Dissertations
Issuing Body
Mississippi State University
Advisor
Love, Adam W.
Committee Member
Twietmeyer, Gregg
Committee Member
Barrett, Marsha E.
Date of Degree
8-12-2016
Document Type
Graduate Thesis - Open Access
Major
Sports Administration
Degree Name
Master of Science
College
College of Education
Department
Department of Kinesiology
Abstract
This content analysis was designed to investigate newspaper coverage of the desegregation of Mississippi State varsity football through the media coverage of the first Black football players at Mississippi State University, Robert Bell and Frank Dowsing. Two hundred and three articles from three newspapers (The Starkville Daily News, Mississippi State Reflector, and Jackson Clarion-Ledger) were examined using a three-tiered qualitative analysis. That analysis resulted in 426 frame instances and 686 theme instances, or a total of 1,112 codes. The resulting data were then interpreted using Critical Race Theory (CRT) to generate understanding of the desegregation of the football program. The CRT guided interpretation of the results of the content analysis contradicted the popular narrative regarding Mississippi State University desegregation and athletic desegregation, indicating that the varsity football team and the careers of Bell and Dowsing were reported in a way that supported the existing MSU power structure.
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/11668/21036
Recommended Citation
Downs, Benjamin Joseph, "Maroon and White and Read All Over Newspaper Coverage of Desegregation of Mississippi State Football, 1970-1973" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 3013.
https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/td/3013
Comments
media analysis||football history||colorblind discourse||race relations||college football||Mississippi sports heritage