On the twenty-second of September in the year 1862, President Abraham Lincoln executively ordered the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War. This command declared the freedom of all slaves in the ten Confederate States of America. Slavery was completely abolished in all states with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 6 in the year 1865. Since then African Americans have been free to live their lives without being owned, claimed, bought or sold. While this was a start, it was definitely not enough for African Americans to be considered equal. Despite all the progress made by African Americans and other minorities, there are still obstacles that modern ethnic Americans face. Some of these obstacles lie in a shared interest among Americans, sports. It was speculated in the journal article "Race and Pathways to Power in the National Football League" by author Jomills Henry Braddock II, that a retired African-American athlete would face difficulties when trying to move into the coaching field or leadership positions front office (Braddock 2012, 712). In the magazine article “Weighing in on the Coaching Decision: Discussing Sports and Race Online,” author Jimmy Sanderson explains to readers that the reign of the sports world has been heavily tied to white ideology (Sanderson 2010, 302). It is not possible to fully live the American dream without supporting promising and successful career goals. It's possible that people of color can get their foot on the first rung of the corporate ladder, but actually climbing to the top has proven to be a difficult and nearly impossible task. It is clear that affirmative action has not been able to protect minorities from stereotypes and discrimination... middle of paper... superiors, white Americans. This shows that ethnic Americans have to work twice as hard and twice as long to be in any way equal to white Americans. Works Cited Barash, David P., and Charles Webel. Peace and conflict studies. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2002. PrintBraddock, Jomills Henry, II, Eryka Smith, and Marvin P. Dawkins. “Race and Paths to Power in the National Football League.” American Behavioral Scientist (2012): 711-24.Duffer, Mikale J., and Seth L. Feinberg. “Running and the NFL Draft: Views from the Auction Book.” (2008): 53-6.Sanderson, Jimmy. “Coach Decision Evaluation: Discussing Sports and Competition Online.” Journal of Language and Social Psychology (2010): 302-315. Shiva, Vandana. Earth Democracy: justice, sustainability and peace. Cambridge, MA: South End, 2005. Print.