| This study examines the life and thought of Dr. Dudley Allen Sargent, one of the great pioneers in the field of physical education. Dr. Sargent's career and contributions are evaluated from the perspective of the numerous social, political, and intellectual contemporary trends which influenced him. This work portrays Dudley Sargent as a quintessential representative figure of his era with regard to the emerging American medical profession, the impact of science and technology on American society, the entrepreneurial spirit of the age, and the cultural shift from an agrarian to an industrial based society. These intellectual forces encompassed many formative events in American history including Social Darwinism, Muscular Christianity, the early Feminist movement, the development of the modern college curriculum, the continuing conflict between academics and intercollegiate athletics, and the development of the importance of individualized exercise as essential to personal health. The study focuses upon Sargent's visionary contributions to contemporary American culture: his concept of exercise as a form of preventive medicine, his conclusion that exercise must be formulated to the specific needs of each individual, and his numerous contributions to the development of physical education for women, despite concerted opposition from those who believed physical exercise made women masculine, or lesbians. |
