2A 2B 2C 2D 2E Broadside featuring the Belmont Colored Giants of Harlem, 1908 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library A f r i c a n -American History Baseball History 1 8 8 7 GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT Midway through the season, International League owners agree to sign no new contracts with African-American baseball players, sparking the tradition of barring black players from pro ball. Other leagues follow and the era of integrated baseball soon ends. BARNSTORMING ON THE OPEN ROAD 1887–1919 NATIONAL COLORED BASE BALL LEAGUE With teams from Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Cincinnati, LINCOLN GIANTS Land of Giants Washington, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Louisville, this league fails within three weeks of its May opener. By 1887, some black players were on organized baseball rosters, Many black barn s t o rmi ng teams took the name “Giants” arguably because 1 8 9 1 mainly in the minor leagues. But during that season, the International of the prominence of the National AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOLDS Financially weakened by long years of competition with the National L e a g u e ’s New York Giants, who were League, the American Association fails. League owners agreed to make no new contracts with African- managed by John McGraw. These American players. In unspoken agreement, other leagues adopted black teams, among them the 1 8 9 6 Mohawk Giants of Schenectady, PLESSY V. FERGUSON DECISION similar policies over the next 15 years. Black players, in response, the Union Giants of Chicago and the In a test of Jim Crow laws, the Supreme Court allows “separate Lincoln Giants of New York City, but equal” schools and public accommodations for African Americans, thereby supporting segregation of schools and started their own professional teams. They barnstormed throughout became giants in their own commerce throughout the country. c o m m u n i t i e s . many of the nation’s towns and cities, playing against all comers and 1 8 9 8 BATTLE OF SAN JUAN HILL building a reputation for great baseball. By 1910, more than 60 teams African-American troops play a critical role in the Spanish-American War. were on the road. Some were so good that no amount of prejudice The New York Lincoln Giants featuring Hall of Fame catcher and 1 9 0 1 Byron “Ban” Johnson Courtesy of National Baseball power hitter Louis Santop (second row, seated far left), 1912 AMERICAN LEAGUE Hall of Fame Library could deny their talent. Even with the advent of organized black Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Ban Johnson declares the American League a major league, challenging the 25-year-old National League. baseball in 1920, many black teams continued to barnstorm all the 1 9 0 3 W.E.B. DuBois 1 9 0 3 way up through the 1950s. Library of Congress THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK FIRST MODERN WORLD SERIES Cuban X Giants W.E.B. DuBois publishes his essays on African-American life. Two years Boston defeats Pittsburgh in the first postseason meeting between the champions later he helps organize the Niagara Movement, created to promote of the American and National leagues. African-American rights and racial equality. Partially made up of players from the earlier Cuban Giants team in Long Island, New York, the Cuban X Giants roster 1 9 0 5 illustrated the frailty of contracts on African-American AFRICAN-AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS The Chicago Defender begins publication, followed in two years by the 1 9 0 7 PHILADELPHIA GIANTS teams. In general, pay was scarce and traveling and play- Pittsburgh Courier. The papers soon have nationwide audiences and become strong vocal opponents against racial inequality. ing conditions were usually marginal during the barnstorm- SOL WHITE’S HISTORY OF COLORED BASE BALL Black baseball pioneer Tremendous Philadelphia Giants team with Sol White ing era. Players would “jump” their contracts to play with Solomon White’s History (standing, third from right), Rube Foster (standing, second of Colored Base Ball from left), and Pete Hill (sitting, second from left), more financially successful teams. It was difficult for teams all Hall of Fame inductees, 1904 to make a profit based on attendance at games because Chicago Defender masthead Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Courtesy of National Baseball so many other costs, such as rental of a baseball field, Hall of Fame Library decreased their revenues. Black teams scrambled regularly 1 9 1 0 2G to make ends meet and to keep their best players NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE 2i ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE 2F 2H throughout the era of segregated baseball. 2J Early Six activists, including W.E.B. DuBois and Henry Moscowitz, found the interracial NAACP to fight for equal rights and black integration. cover of The Proclaiming themselves the “Colored World Champions” of 1909, CUBAN X G I A N T S the barnstorming St. Paul (Minn.) Gophers were one of several 1914 – 1919 independent all-black teams trumpeting that title. Sol White Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library WORLD WAR I After the U.S. enters the war in 1917, more than 350,000 African Americans Hall of Famer Sol White, historian Black troops, 1918 serve in the military. Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of early black baseball and player- of Fame Library 1916 – 1919 manager for the Philadelphia GREAT MIGRATION Giants, blamed Adrian “Cap” With many factory jobs available, the first mass Anson for racism in major league migration of African Americans from the rural South to the industrial North begins. baseball because the powerf u l New arrivals to Newark, New Jersey, 1918 Courtesy of Newark Public Library Chicago White Stockings manager 1 9 1 9 often refused to play teams with “BACK TO AFRICA” MOVEMENT Publisher and journalist Marcus Garvey starts his black players. Anson was not Black Star shipping line. Since 1914, Garvey had unusual in voicing the widespre a d promoted uniting people of African ancestry through his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). racism of the 1880s. M O H AW K G I A N T S Sol White’s History of Colored Base Ball, printed in 1907, recorded much history of African-American baseball that might otherwise have been forgotten. The Mohawk Giants of Schenectady, New York, reached prominence in Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library the period 1913 to 1915. Their roster during that time included George “Chappie” Johnson (front row, second from right) at catcher and Frank Wickware (back row, second from left) as pitcher. Johnson is credited as being one of the first ballplayers, black or white, to line his catcher's mitt with goose feathers for increased padding. Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library Marcus Garvey Courtesy of Library of Congress Cuban X Giants, c. 1895 Courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library PRIDE & The African-American Baseball Experience 2K 2L 2M 2N 2o.