Gregory J. Kaliss

My research interests have long been driven by a desire to interrogate the history of American popular cultural forms, especially sports and music. My first book, Men’s College Athletics and the Politics of Racial Equality, centered on five case studies of racial integration in big-time college athletics over the course of the twentieth century. I was especially interested in how ordinary Americans used sports to discuss issues of fairness, equality, masculinity, and citizenship. 

My most recent book, Beyond the Black Power Salute, analyzes the heightened athlete activism of the 1960s and 1970s. A wide range of athletes got involved in economic, political, and social activism in this era: Black and white, male and female, pro and amateur. My book set out to draw connections between events and individuals in different sports and locations across the country, and to link their efforts to more recent individuals such as Colin Kaepernick and Naomi Osaka. In the process, we discern what changes took place, what obstacles remained, and the potentials and limitations of sports to effect social transformation in American life.

Issues of place and landscape have also been central to my scholarly development. My work as coeditor of Volume 9 of The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted centered on the debates regarding the “proper” use of public parks and open spaces. I am especially interested in how people articulated the positive values of different kinds of recreation. That focus is at the center of my newest research project, an exploration of prison sports programs during the age of mass incarceration. 

I live in Lancaster with my wife, daughter, and four (gulp!) cats. Most weekends, you can catch me watching my daughter play volleyball for school or club, riding my bike, watching soccer, or listening to Pink Floyd and/or Taylor Swift.