A History of Women’s Basketball & Northampton’s Early Role in the Sport
A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Rita Liberti
A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Rita Liberti
When the nation’s top two women’s intercollegiate basketball teams compete for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship on April 2, 2023, it will mark 130 years since the first women’s college game was played. On March 22, 1893, Smith College Physical Education Director, Senda Berenson introduced her students to the new game of “basket-ball.” Immediately, student athletes and fans on the Northampton campus were drawn to the game that became a centerpiece of campus life.
Sport historian Rita Liberti will describe the early history of women’s basketball, from its beginning in Northampton to its spread across the nation. During the first few decades of the twentieth century, girls and women’s basketball teams were sponsored by schools, churches, playground associations, and factories. She will explore how the history of women’s basketball sheds light on larger social and cultural issues in the United States, including gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and class.
Introductory remarks by Christine Shelton, Professor Emerita of Exercise & Sport Studies, Smith College.
Dr. Rita Liberti
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Dr. Rita Liberti is a professor of Kinesthesiology at California State University, East Bay and a resident of Easthampton, Massachusetts. Her research focuses on twentieth century women's sport, with a particular interest in female students at historically Black colleges and universities in the 1930s.
Liberti is the author of numerous articles and books. She is co-editor of San Francisco Bay Area Sports: Golden Gate Athletics, Recreation, and Community (with Maureen Smith); co-author of (Re)Presenting Wilma Rudolph (with Maureen Smith) and co-author of Gridiron Gourmet: Gender and Food at the Football Tailgate (with Maria J. Veri). She holds a BS in Health and Physical Education; Edinboro University of Pennsylvania; an M.Ed in Athletic Administration from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Sport Studies from the University of Iowa. |
In partnership with Smith College Athletics, Smith College Archives
and the Center for Sport & Social Justice at Cal State East Bay.
and the Center for Sport & Social Justice at Cal State East Bay.
Image at left: Smith College Class of 1900, Smith College Special Collections.
Image at right: Northampton High School Girls Basketball Team, 1939. Identified on reverse by an unconventional numbering system: Arlene Staples, Anne Reed, Patsy Bachand, Sylvia Mangall, Alice Ryan, Lochardes Remas, Mildred Stowe, Mary Ames, May O'Brien, Winnie M. Stewart, Gloria Bisaillon, coach. Photography by Hoffman Studio, Northampton. Photograph 1987.64.7: Gift of William C. Ames and Frederick Ames.