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Special Exhibtion:

Pictures Tell the Story: Ernest C. Withers

This exhibition & a monograph by the same title
are supported by a generous grant from the

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The Diamond League - Baseball With Color

Baseball - that All-American sport - has been around since the 1840s, and has attracted players and fans from all walks of life. The sport became professionalized shortly after its inception, but like many things in 19th-century America, there was a sharp dividing line between blacks and whites even on the baseball diamond. There were all-white teams and all-black teams, and while they would occasionally play exhibition (or "barnstorming") games against one another in the off-season, seldom were blacks and whites found playing together on the same team. Those blacks that were on white teams were often passed off as Hispanic or Native American to escape the strangling "Jim Crow" laws that had existed since Reconstruction. In 1887, the International League banned black players from playing in the white leagues. Yet blacks continued to play baseball and in the 1920s and 30s, the Negro League was formed.

Negro League baseball was known for its showmanship, speed, and elements of surprise. "Clown" teams were formed with players who played in outlandish costumes, combining slapstick with superb sportsmanship. Professional and semi-professional teams sprang up around the country, and black fans turned out in force to support their teams, who rented stadiums from the white teams in the off-season.

It was not until 1947, however, that the "color line" was finally crossed. Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey launched "Baseball's Great Experiment" that year. Rickey, who was motivated both by visions of racial equality as well as increased ticket sales, secretly signed Negro League star Jackie Robinson (1919 - 1972) to the Dodgers in 1947. Robinson endured open hostility from white baseball fans, hotels that refused him a room with the rest of his teammates, and even death threats. Yet through it all, Robinson's commitment both to baseball and the larger issue of civil rights gave him the courage to persevere. By 1949 he had been named the National League MVP, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 - his first year of eligibility. Other teams followed the Dodgers lead and Larry Doby became the first black player in the American League when he signed with the Cleveland Indians later in 1947. In 1948, Negro League legend Satchel Paige became the oldest "rookie" to play in the Major Leagues. His legendary pitching, his showmanship and his sportsmanship also won him the distinction of being the first player from the Negro Leagues to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971.

Thus baseball was one of the first areas of American society to integrate. The Armed Forces were not integrated until 1948, and Public Schools did not begin integration until 1954. "Baseball's Great Experiment" had been successful, but not without its casualties. The Negro League, faced with declining ticket sales and the loss of its best players to the American and National Leagues, finally folded in 1960.

Photographer Ernest Withers captured some of the finest moments of Negro League baseball with images that provide an enduring legacy for this important, yet sometimes painful era of American sports history.

Classroom Activites:

1. Create a timeline for Negro League Baseball. Compare it with a timeline of the Civil Rights movement. (Many of the websites listed below will aid in this activity). What was happening in the 1940s that would lead to baseball's integration?
2. Class discussion - What were some of the positive and negative aspects of Rickey's "Great Experiment"? What effect did this change have on everyone's sense of community?

Web Resources: