The Black Sox Scandal: The 1919 World Series in History and Myth
Dr. Fletcher had the opportunity to share his knowledge of the Black Sox scandal to a class of DePaul University freshman this month. The Black Sox Scandal: The 1919 World Series in History and Myth is a “focal point seminar” for university freshman. These seminars concentrate on a particular person, place, text, object, event, or idea with the goal of preparing students for university-level intellectual inquiry.
Nancy Grossman (assistant director of the LA & S honors program) offered students a chance to explore the 1919 World Series by gaining insight into historical inquiry and evaluating and synthesizing from multiple sources; the roles of author bias and point of view in interpreting historic events; the strategies for supporting arguments and analyzing audience; the function of sports and media in our collective consciousness; and the issues of moral conduct and human frailty in evaluating historic events.
Upon reading Eliot Asinof’s Eight Men Out and WP Kinsell’s Shoeless Joe, students came to Dr. Fletcher’s presentation knowledgeable and prepared with insightful questions about the 1919 World Series scandal. From the history of Major League Baseball to revelations about a relatively unknown 1924 trial between Joe Jackson and Charles Comiskey, Dr. Fletcher walked the students through an updated and detailed account of the Black Sox scandal.
Students were instructed to write an essay as if they were the designer or curator of a Black Sox exhibit at the Baseball Museum and Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Click here to view the assignment.
They also prepared for a debate with fellow classmates where Buck Weaver and Joe Jackson’s fates were in the students’ hands. Click to view the debate format and photos of the freshman during preparation and presentation of their arguments.
Our special thank you to Nancy Grossman for introducing DePaul University students to this intriguing story, and for encouraging the exploration of the history and mythology of the 1919 World Series scandal. We would also like to thank the freshman of ISP 101 for allowing us into their classroom during the Black Sox debates and offering their essays for publication on this website.
Members of ClearBuck.com look forward to future interaction with new students of Nancy Grossman’s focal point seminar: The Black Sox Scandal.
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