Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-qks25 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-15T12:57:34.918Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Triangle of Empire: Sport, Religion, and Imperialism in Puerto Rico's YMCA, 1898–1926

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 October 2017

Antonio Sotomayor*
Affiliation:
University of Illinois

Extract

In 1891, Luther H. Gulik, a prominent member of the international leadership of the YMCA of the United States, established the triangle as the YMCA symbol. He saw the triangle as a symbol imbued with Christian beliefs that would become the spearhead of a worldwide missionary movement. About the Triangle, Gulik wrote:

The triangle stands . . . for the symmetrical man, each part developed with reference to the whole, and not merely with reference to itself. . . . What authority have we for believing that this triangle idea is correct? It is scriptural. . . . Such statements as, “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God with all they heart and soul and mind and strength,” indicate . . . the scriptural view . . . that the service of the Lord includes the whole man. The words, which in the Hebrew and Greek are translated “strength,” refer in both cases entirely to physical strength.

As the YMCA International Committee's first secretary for athletic work (1889–1902), Gulik had strong reason to create a symbol that could be recognized anywhere in the world. He was a firm believer in the expanding Muscular Christianity movement, which glorified patriotic duty and manliness expressed through athletics, and a strong believer in the civilizing agency of missionary Protestantism as it sought to establish a United States Christian righteous empire.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Gulik, Luther, “What the Triangle Means,” Era 20 (January 1894): 14 Google Scholar, as quoted in Hopkins, Howard C., History of the YMCA in North America (New York: Association Press, 1951), 256 Google Scholar.

2. Marty, Martin E., Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America (New York: Dial Press, 1970)Google Scholar.

3. Malavet, Pedro A., America's Colony: The Political and Cultural Conflict between the United States and Puerto Rico (New York: New York University Press, 2004)Google Scholar.

4. Hopkins, History of the YMCA in North America, 256.

5. Ayala, César J. and Bernabe, Rafael, Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History since 1898 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2007), 2024 Google Scholar.

6. Curbelo, Sylvia Álvarez, Un país del porvenir: el afán de modernidad en Puerto Rico (siglo xix), (San Juan: Ediciones Callejón, 2001)Google Scholar.

7. Kraver, Jeraldine, “Restocking the Melting Pot: Americanization as Cultural Imperialism,” Race, Class and Gender 6:4 (1999): 6175.Google Scholar

8. Findlay, Eileen J., Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870–1920 (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999)Google Scholar.

9. For a definition of “modern sports,” see Guttmann, Allen, From Ritual to Record: The Nature of Modern Sports (New York: Columbia University Press, 2004), 1555.Google Scholar

10. For an analysis of these negotiations in the field of education and teachers in the public school system in Puerto Rico, see del Moral, Solsiree, Negotiating Empire: the Cultural Politics of Schools in Puerto Rico, 1898–1952 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2013), 9–10, 6990 Google Scholar.

11. Picó, Fernando, 1898: La guerra después de la guerra (Río Piedras: Ediciones Huracán, 1998)Google Scholar; Falcón, Luis Nieves, Un siglo de represión política en Puerto Rico: 1898–1998 (San Juan: Ediciones Puerto, 2009)Google Scholar.

12. Even early Puerto Rican sports historian Emilio Huyke singles out the preeminence of the YMCA in the development of sports in Puerto Rico. Huyke, Los deportes en Puerto Rico (Sharon, CT: Troutman Press, 1979).

13. Hoganson, Kristin, Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998)Google Scholar.

14. See for example Martínez-Fernández, Luis, “The Rise of the American Mediterranean, 1846–1905,” in The Caribbean: A History of the Region and its People, Palmié, Stephan and Scarano, Francisco A., eds. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011), 373398.Google Scholar In the same publication edited by Palmié and Scarano, see also Brenda Gayle Plummer, “Building US Hegemony in the Caribbean,” 417–432; César J. Ayala, “The American Sugar Kingdom, 1898–1934,” 433–444; and Winston James, “Culture, Labor, and Race in the Shadow of US Capital,” 445–458.

15. For an expanded analysis of Strong's theological stance and its meaning in US imperialism, see Silva Gotay, Samuel, Protestantismo y política en Puerto Rico (Río Piedras: Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2005), 5565.Google Scholar

16. “The Anglo-Saxon is the representation of two great ideas, which are closely related. One of them is that of civil Liberty. Nearly all of the civil liberty in the world is enjoyed by the Anglo-Saxons: the English, the British colonies, and the people of the United States. . . . The other great idea of which the Anglo-Saxon is the exponent is that of a pure spiritual Christianity. It was no accident that the great reformation of the sixteenth century originated among a Teutonic, rather than a Latin people. Evidently it is chiefly to the English and the American peoples that we must look for the evangelization of the world.” Strong, Josiah, Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis (New York: Baker & Taylor, 1885), 159161 Google Scholar.

17. Monge, José Trías, Puerto Rico: The Trials of the Oldest Colony in the World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 1115.Google Scholar

18. Silva Gotay, Protestantismo y política en Puerto Rico, 2005.

19. Román, Reinaldo L. and Voekel, Pamela, “Popular Religion in Latin American Historiography,” In The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History, Moya, José C., ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 454487.Google Scholar

20. Martínez-Fernández, Luis, Protestantism and Political Conflict in the Nineteenth-Century Spanish Caribbean (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002)Google Scholar.

21. Rodríguez, Daniel R., La primera evangelización norteamericana en Puerto Rico, 1898–1930 (Mexico City: Ediciones Borinquen, 1986)Google Scholar.

22. Bakewell, Peter, A History of Latin America, c. 1450 to the Present (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2004), 459.Google Scholar For the case of Cuba, see Pérez, Louis, On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality & Culture (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 6074.Google Scholar See also Gobat, Michel, “The Invention of Latin America: A Transnational History of Anti-Imperialism, Democracy, and Race,” American Historical Review 118:5 (December 2013): 13451375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

23. The Catholic Church in Puerto Rico was known for being responsive first to the Spanish monarchy and enjoyed the loyalty of conservative groups, both peninsular and local. The Church's detachment from the common people was heightened by its fragile presence in the island. Lacking priests, resources, and capital, the Church was in a dire situation. However, this does not mean that Puerto Ricans were not Catholic. After 400 years, Puerto Ricans had developed an intimate home-oriented Catholicism. Distance from the church to the people living out in the country, plus the high cost of sacraments, forced many to seek out the church infrequently, but instead practice their Catholic faith within their isolated communities and homes. See Gotay, Samuel Silva, Catolicismo y política en Puerto Rico bajo España y Estados Unidos: Siglos xix y xx (Río Piedras: Editorial Universidad de Puerto Rico, 2005), 7383.Google Scholar

24. van Dalen, D. B., “Physical Education and Sports in Latin America,” History of Physical Education and Sport 1:1 (1973), 6589;Google Scholar Fernández, Iván López, “The Social, Political, and Economic Contexts to the Evolution of Spanish Physical Educationalists, (1874–1992),” International Journal of the History of Sport 26:11 (September 2009): 16301651;CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Sepúlveda, Luis Dómenech, Historia y pensamiento de la educación física y el deporte (Río Piedras: Publicaciones Gaviota, 2003), 235238.Google Scholar

25. Varas, Jaime, La verdadera historia de los deportes puertorriqueños: de 1493 a 1904 (San Juan: np, 1984)Google Scholar.

26. Huyke, Los deportes en Puerto Rico, 1979.

27. Pérez, Louis, On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality, and Culture (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999), 7483 Google Scholar.

28. de Hostos, Eugenio Maria, “La Liga de Patriotas Puertorriqueños,” in Obras Completas: Madre Isla (Campaña política por Puerto Rico, 1898–1903), Vol. 5 (Havana, Cuba: Cultural, S.A./Obispo y Bernaza:, 1939), 13.Google Scholar

29. Carter, Thomas, “God Does Not Play Dice with the Universe, or does He? Anthropological Interlocutions of Sport and Religion,” Religion and Society: Advances in Research 3 (2012): 155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

30. Gems, Gerald, The Athletic Crusade: Sport and American Cultural Imperialism (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006)Google Scholar; Elias, Robert, The Empire Strikes Out: How Baseball Sold U.S. Foreign Policy and Promoted the American Way Abroad (New York: New Press, 2010), 14 Google Scholar.

31. MacAloon, John J., “Introduction: Muscular Christianity After 150 Years,” In Muscular Christianity in Colonial and Post-Colonial Worlds, MacAloon, John J., ed. (New York: Routledge, 2008), xvixvii Google Scholar.

32. Kelly, Patrick, Catholic Perspectives on Sports (New York: Paulist Press, 2012), 45 Google Scholar.

33. Vanysacker, Dries, “The Attitude of the Holy See toward Sport during the Interwar Period (1919-39),” Catholic Historical Review 101:4 (Autumn 2015): 797798.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34. MacAloon, “Introduction,” 2008, xii-xiii.

35. Derks, Marjet, “Modesty and Excellence: Gender and Sports Culture in Dutch Catholic Schooling, 1900-40,” Gender & History 20:1 (April 2008): 1519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36. DuBois, Laurent, Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010), 811;Google Scholar Mangan, James A., The Games Ethic and Imperialism: Aspects of the Diffusion of an Ideal (London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1998)Google Scholar; Mangan, “Christ and the Imperial Games: Evangelical Athletes of the Empire,” in The Games Ethic, 170–171.

37. Guttmann, Allen, Games and Empires: Modern Sports and Cultural Imperialism (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 2125 Google Scholar.

38. See Dyreson, Marc, “Prolegomena to Jesse Owens: American Ideas About Race and Olympic Races from the 1890s to the 1920s,” International Journal of the History of Sport 25:2 (February 2008): 229232 Google Scholar.

39. Llewellyn, Matthew P. and Gleaves, John, The Rise and Fall of Olympic Amateurism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016)Google Scholar.

40. Torres, César R.‘Spreading the Olympic Idea’ to Latin America: The IOC-YMCA Partnership and the 1922 Latin American Games.” Journal of Olympic History 16:1 (2008): 1624 Google Scholar.

41. Guedes, Claudia, “‘Changing the Cultural Landscape’: English Engineers, American Missionaries, and the YMCA Bring Sports to Brazil: The 1870s to the 1930s,” International Journal of the History of Sport 28:17 (December 2011): 25942608 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

42. YMCA, Yearbook of the Young Men's Christian Association of North America, for the Year 1899 (New York: Association Press, 1899), i.

43. Soldiers who were detached from their families and stationed in army camps or on battlefields were prone to the moral decadence that war produced. “Remove the safeguards, and add the idle hours of a waiting campaign, the discomforts of enforced camp life in a crowd, the disappointments of inactive service, together with trying climatic and sanitary conditions, and large bodies of men are predisposed toward evil. Then it is that profanity, gambling, intemperance and impurity flourish. One great curse of some of the camps last summer was the regimental beer canteen. In these army grog shops many a young man learned to take his first glass of liquor, for the temptation to drink was exceedingly strong,” YMCA, Yearbook for 1899, ii.

44. Silva Gotay, Protestantismo y política en Puerto Rico, 120–148.

45. Dómenech Sepúlveda, Historia y pensamiento de la educación física y el deporte, 270.

46. “Spokane and the Spokane Country–Pictorial and Biographical, Deluxe Supplement,” Vol. 2 (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912), 88–92, extracted from http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jtenlen/flsmith.html on April 23, 2014.

47. “Y.M.C.A. in Puerto Rico: Coffee House to be Opened at San Juan-Work Around Havana,” New York Times, January 21, 1899.

48. “In Porto Rico, owing to the somewhat different conditions, the Committee has inaugurated another plan of service. In San Juan a building centrally located has been secured and fitted up with a restaurant, reading, correspondence and recreation rooms for the use of the soldiers and sailors. Everything has started most auspiciously. All, from the commanding general down, welcome the undertaking”. YMCA Yearbook for 1899, xvi.

49. “The Y.M.C.A. in San Juan. Attractive Rooms, with Restaurant, Opened and Well Patronized,” New York Times, April 20, 1899.

50. San Juan and Manila had the only two “permanent” libraries in the Army and Navy Department of the YMCA. Other Army and Navy facilities had “traveling” libraries. See YMCA, Yearbook of the Young Men's Christian Association of North America, for the Year 1900 (New York: Association Press, 1900), 16.

51. Huyke, Los deportes en Puerto Rico, 1979, 331.

52. Findlay, Eileen Suárez, Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870–1920 (Durham: Duke University Press, 1999), 612 Google Scholar.

53. Alfred F Grimm, “Report of the Physical Director of the San Juan YMCA, 1915–1916,” 1, Kautz Family YMCA Archives [hereafter KFYMCAA], Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA International Work in Puerto Rico [hereafter YMCA IWPR], Box 1, Correspondence and Report Letters [hereafter CRL], 1908-1915.

54. Duany, Jorge, The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002), 270271 Google Scholar, 278–280.

55. Zerah Collins, Report of the Representatives of the Army and Navy Department of the Young Men's Christian Associations at San Juan, Porto Rico, September 1899, 2, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.4-4, Armed Services YMCA, Box 1, Spanish American War Reports, 1898-1901.

56. Sunday schools were an important piece in Americanization through religious work. Silva Gotay, Protestantismo y política, 213–215.

57. Collins, Zerah. “With the Army YMCA in the Spanish-American War.” 1922, 16. Zerah C. Collins, scrapbook. KFYMCAA, Audio/Visual Materials. Box #101AV. On August 8, 1899, Puerto Rico was heavily affected by Hurricane San Ciriaco, one of the most devastating in the island's history. The relief efforts carried out by the US government and its armed forces was vital in developing the idea of a US benevolent imperialism and helped to solidify the imperial interests. Collins's YMCA participated in these relief efforts. For an analysis of the US's benevolent imperialism and hegemony see Cabán, Pedro, Constructing a Colonial People: Puerto Rico and the United States, 1898–1932 (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999), 7779 Google Scholar.

58. Ibid., 1999, 117.

59. Lewis, Gordon, Puerto Rico: Freedom and Power in the Caribbean (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1963), 86 Google Scholar; Cabán, Constructing a Colonial People, 164–169, 182–187.

60. O Solá, José, “Partisanship, Power Contenders, and Colonial Politics in Puerto Rico, 1920s,” Caribbean Studies 38:1 (January-June 2010): 335 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

61. YMCA, Yearbook of the Young Men's Christian Association of North America, for the Year 1902 (New York: Association Press, 1902), 21.

62. Office of the Commissioner of Education, proceedings of the quarterly meeting of the Board of Trustees, May 27, 1905," Archivo de la Junta de Síndicos, Actas de la Junta de Síndicos de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Book 1, 60.

63. Office of the Commissioner of Education, proceedings of the quarterly meeting of the Board of Trustees, October 1, 1906Archivo de la Junta de Síndicos, Actas de la Junta de Síndicos de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Book 2, 47.

64. Gotay, Samuel Silva, La iglesia Católica de Puerto Rico en el proceso político de americanización, 1898–1930 (Río Piedras: Publicaciones Gaviota, 2012), 190 Google Scholar.

65. El Ideal Católico 4:140 (1902), as quoted in Silva Gotay, La iglesia Católica, 195.

66. El Ideal Católico 3, 115 (1898), as quoted in Silva Gotay, La iglesia Católica, 194.

67. El Ideal Católico, July 9, 1903, as quoted in Silva Gotay, La iglesia Católica, 197.

68. See Silva Gotay, La iglesia Católica, 184–186.

69. YMCA, Yearbook of the Young Men's Christian Association of North America, May 1, 1903 to April 30, 1904 (New York: Association Press, 1904), 22.

70. YMCA, Yearbook of the Young Men's Christian Association of North America, May 1, 1905 to April 30, 1906 (New York: Association Press, 1906), 26.

71. Hopkins, Charles Howard, John R. Mott, 1865–1955: A Biography (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979)Google Scholar.

72. George F. Tibbitts, Porto Rico Report, San Juan, June 23, 1909, 3, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

73. Ibid.

74. Ibid.

75. Varas, La verdadera historia de los deportes puertorriqueños, 1984, 556–557.

76. George Coxhead, Annual Report, YMCA, San Juan, Porto Rico, 1915, 1-2, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

77. John Mott to George Tibbitts, July 1, 1911, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR. Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

78. Cameron Beck, West Indies, 3, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26. YMCA IWPR. Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

79. New York Times, January 4, 1912, quoted in YMCA of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Silver Anniversary 1913–1938, 5, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 2, Folder and Reports.

80. George Colton to Emilio del Toro, December 20, 1911, ibid., 4.

81. Emilio Del Toro, “Discurso de Inauguración,” 7, quoted in YMCA of San Juan. . . Silver Anniversary 1913-1938, 5, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 2, Folder and Reports.

82. Varas, La verdadera historia de los deportes puertorriqueños, 556–557.

83. The Times, January 3, 1912, “YMCA Building Corner Stone Laid,” KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 2, Pamphlets.

84. The Times, June 2, 1913, KFYMCAA,Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 2, Puerto Rico–Newspaper Clippings.

85. Cabán, Constructing a Colonial People, 1999, 33.

86. For an analysis of the executive council and its role in the Americanization project, see chapter 4, “The Colonial State at Work: The Executive Council and the Transformation of Puerto Rico, 1900–1917,” in Constructing a Colonial People, Cabán, 122–161.

87. The Times, June 2, 1913, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 2, Puerto Rico–Newspaper Clippings.

88. Hopkins, History of the YMCA in North America, 1951, 18–19.

89. Ibid., 512–513.

90. W. G. Coxhead, Biographical Records, KFYMCAA, Box 41, Biographical Data.

91. William Coxhead report to George Babcock, April 19, 1922, 2-3, KFYMCAA, Y.USA. 9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

92. Silva Gotay, Protestantismo y política, 260–263.

93. My emphasis. William Coxhead, Annual Report of the YMCA, September 30, 1914, 9, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

94. William Coxhead, Report for quarter ending March 31, 1915, 1, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

95. William Coxhead, Annual Report, 1914-1915, 7, KFYMCAA, Y.USA. 9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

96. Silva Gotay, Protestantismo y política en Puerto Rico, 246–255.

97. William Coxhead, Report of the San Juan, Porto Rico, YMCA for the Year Ending September 30, 1914, 2, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

98. William Coxhead, Annual Report, YMCA, San Juan, Porto Rico, 1915, 9, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

99. A. F. Grimm, Report of the Physical Director of the San Juan YMCA, 1916-1917, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box1, CRL, 1908-1915.

100. A. F. Grimm, Report of the Physical Director of the San Juan YMCA, 1915-1916, 6, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

101. Ibid., 9.

102. Ibid., 7.

103. Cabán, Constructing a Colonial People, 1999, 198.

104. Ramos, Efrén Rivera, The Legal Construction of Identity: The Judicial and Social Legacy of American Colonialism in Puerto Rico (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

105. William Coxhead to John Mott, Annual Report for 1919, 3, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

106. Ibid., 8–9.

107. Herman Goodman to William Coxhead on July 9, 1919, Appendix 2; Annual Report letter from William Coxhead to John Mott, 1919, 18, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

108. A. F. Grimm, Report of the Physical Director of the YMCA, 1917-1918, 1, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

109. Brooks, Charles A., Christian Americanization: A Task for the Churches (New York: Council of Women for Home Missions and Missionary Education Movement of the United States and Canada, 1919)Google Scholar.

110. H. Hitch to George Babcock, April 6, 1920, 1, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1908-1915.

111. William Coxhead, Annual Administrative Report for 1924, 1, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1920-1929.

112. Ibid., 2.

113. William Coxhead, Annual Report for 1925, 3, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1920-1929.

114. Ibid., 4.

115. Solá, “Partisanship, Power Contenders, and Colonial Politics in Puerto Rico,” 14.

116. William Coxhead, Annual Administration Report for the Year Ending September 30, 1921, 2, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1920-1929.

117. William Coxhead to George Babcock, December 8, 1925, KFYMCAA, Y.USA.9-2-26, YMCA IWPR, Box 1, CRL, 1920-1929.

118. Ibid., 2.

119. Sotomayor, Antonio, The Sovereign Colony: Olympic Sport, National Identity, and International Politics in Puerto Rico (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.