Before the Redskins Were the Redskins: The Use of Native American Team Names in the Formative Era of American Sports, 1857-1933
The Native American team name and mascot controversy has disrupted the world of American sports for more than six decades. In the 1940s, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) began a campaign against a variety of negative and unflattering stereotypes of Indians in American culture. Over time, the campaign began to focus on the use of Native American team names—like Indians and Redskins—and mascots by college and professional sports teams. The NCAI’s basic argument was that the use of such names, mascots, and logos was offensive and demeaning to Native Americans and the product of racist assumptions regarding American Indians. Supporters of the continued use of such names and symbols maintain that the practice actually honors Native Americans and is not demeaning. This controversy has sparked, among other effects, a substantial body of literature that extends across many disciplines.