Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
“Japanese Wrestlers in a 1960s Oklahoma College Town,” presented by Roger Moore, is part of “Perspectives in History,” the 2022 Oklahoma History Symposium. Following World War II, relations between Japanese and American conservatives were strained for myriad reasons. Negative attitudes toward those of Asian descent in the US dated to the nineteenth century and continued with the internment camps of the 1940s; the end of World War II and the dropping of atomic bombs led to mistrust and tensions in the decades to follow
Representing a small, rural community in Oklahoma, wrestler Myron Roderick forged a relationship with Japanese wrestling representatives at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. This connection led to Japanese wrestlers attending Oklahoma State University in the 1960s.
This session will reveal how wrestling can be a model to show sports’ ability to soften cross-cultural and racial divides. Despite often negative and stereotypical attitudes toward Japanese elsewhere, a small Midwestern community was able to accept and participate, although minimally, in attempts at healing the racial divide created by World War II.
“Japanese Wrestlers in a 1960s Oklahoma College Town,” presented by Roger Moore, is part of “Perspectives in History,” the 2022 Oklahoma History Symposium. Following World War II, relations between Japanese and American conservatives were strained for myriad reasons. Negative attitudes toward those of Asian descent in the US dated to the nineteenth century and continued with the internment camps of the 1940s; the end of World War II and the dropping of atomic bombs led to mistrust and tensions in the decades to follow
Representing a small, rural community in Oklahoma, wrestler Myron Roderick forged a relationship with Japanese wrestling representatives at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia. This connection led to Japanese wrestlers attending Oklahoma State University in the 1960s.
This session will reveal how wrestling can be a model to show sports’ ability to soften cross-cultural and racial divides. Despite often negative and stereotypical attitudes toward Japanese elsewhere, a small Midwestern community was able to accept and participate, although minimally, in attempts at healing the racial divide created by World War II.
