Sports

Wilma Rudolph, Althea Gibson, Billie Jean King: these iconic women athletes excelled in professional sports before 1972, when Title IX was passed into law, protecting people from being excluded from federal education programs on the basis of sex. Before Title IX, opportunities for women to play sports at school were limited. Since then, participation in sports has grown exponentially. Today there are several major women’s sports leagues in North America, including the Women’s National Basketball Association, the National Women’s Hockey League, and the National Women’s Soccer League.

Read the Story Behind this Object

Mia Hamm helped popularize soccer in the U.S. and inspired a new generation of athletes. Kamau, a student, speaks with Eric Jentsch, curator at our National Museum of American History, about Hamm's legacy.

Collection Objects

Historic photographs and objects reveal the stories of incredible women athletes in our collections. 

  • Rebecca Lobo runs towards the camera, as an opposing player runs behind her. She wears a red and black Team USA jersey.
    1996 Olympics “Summer of the Women"
  • In this black-and-white photograph, Althea Gibson poses on a stool with two tennis rackets. Both the rackets have dark colors printed with "Althea Gibson" in white letters.
    Rising above Bias to Become the First African American Grand Slam Champion
  • white baseball dress.
    A Real League of Their Own
  • Fencing mask featuring an American flag across the front worn by Ibtihaj Muhammad during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, where Muhammad earned a bronze and became the first woman Muslim American athlete to earn an Olympic medal
    Ibtihaj Muhammad's Olympic Debut
  • Black sparkly leotard.
    Kristi Yamaguchi: First Asian American Woman to Win an Olympic Gold Medal
  • The front of the black-and-white program features a centrally oriented, thatched illustration of Wilma Rudolph.
    Wilma Rudolph, Civil Rights Frontrunner

Conversation Kit

  • Let's Talk! Cindy Whitehead’s Skateboard Conversation Kit

    PDF icon Cindy Whitehead Teaching and Discussion Guide

    In this lesson plan, students will learn how Cindy Whitehead, a skateboarding pioneer, changed the culture of skateboarding and fought for girls to have greater access to all sports. Students will examine the question: Why does gender equality in sports matter?

    Grades 6–12 Time: Variable (1–3 class periods). Aligned to CCSS and C3 standards.

Videos

  • Mildred "Babe" Zaharias Didrikson: boxing star, three-time Olympic medalist, and one of the best women's golf players of all time.

  • Athlete and activist Billie Jean King talks about fighting for equality. In 2018, she was awarded the National Museum of American History's Great Americans medal.

Smithsonian American Women book cover.

Smithsonian American Women

Remarkable objects and stories of strength, ingenuity, and vision from the National Collection.

Smithsonian American Women book cover.
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