How Did Strength Sports Become So Damn White?

Unpacking a legacy of racism that’s led to the erasure of Black powerlifters

Hal H. Harris
LEVEL
Published in
8 min readAug 23, 2021

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Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash

I spent my youth feeling weak, stocky, and ungainly. I struggled with committing to fitness regimes — none seemed to work with my physique and strength goals. In my twenties, I discovered powerlifting-style training. By combing through training websites, I…

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Hal H. Harris
LEVEL
Writer for

Black on Both Sides. Medium Writers Challenge Winner. The founder of Established in 1865. I Tweet @Established1865. E-mail is hal.harris@est1865.com.