Negro Leagues
Passing beyond cliche to near triteness, baseball has long been described as "the national pasttime", and "America's game." These appellations are, of course, intended to be complimentary, even self-congratulatory. But the applause rings hollow when one considers the context in which the comments were made; the acclaims turn to bitter irony when the term "America's game" is examined in less flattering light. For indeed, baseball is America's game. It was invented here, flourished here, and has been exported all around the world. It is America's oldest and most important professional sport. It is supposed to reflect American values such as fairness, honesty, and democracy. As a national phenomenon, baseball has long served to mirror cultural currents and national attitudes. And from its inception, baseball's racial attitudes have mirrored those of society. To understand the history of race relations in "America's game" is to better understand the history of race in America. Baseball was not America's only game. Following the rules and principles created by Alexander Joy Cartwright, the first official game of baseball was played on June 19, 1846; the upstart New York Nine soundly defeated the established Knicke
Of those who daredSucceeding the NABBP in 1871 as baseball's premier organizing body was the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players,called simply the National Association (NA). But "Daddy" Rice did not invent Jim Crow; he observed him somewhere in Kentucky or Ohio, co-opting the image and dialect for himself and the entertainment of his audience. Thus, "Jim Crow laws" meant Negro laws. So although baseball continues to be the "nation's pasttime", so does segregation. Of the fifty-five or so African Americans known to have played in organized baseball, only Fleet and his brother Welday played in the majors, and then for only one year. Social upheavals of that magnitude are bound to have destableizing consequences. In doing so, they differentiate the present era of baseball from the "pre-modern" era, circa 1846-1903, the year the National League and the American League came to a permanent post-season playing agreement (there actually was much more to it than that, but that is another essay!). If he had a white face, he would be playing with the best of them. Consequently, we find the first instance of Jim Crow in Massachusetts, in 1841; "separate but equal" seating arrangements were made for white and black travellers in a railroad carTurning and wheeling and jumping just so, Thomas Dartmouth Rice--one of the white pioneers in comic representations of blacks--shuffled across the American stage in 1832, giving the country its first international hit song. Preparation of the post-game banquest was at least as important as the match itself. Moving slowly, so as not to arouse suspicion or the ire of fans who expected the highest level of play, baseball gradually began to bleach its ranks. " In those early days, baseball was largely a friendly social event. (The Royals were the farm team for Branch Rickey's Brooklyn Dodgers, which Robinson joined the following year. (Actually, professional football preceded major league baseball by signing its first player on March 21, 1946.
Common topics in this essay:
African Americans,
Jim Crow,
,
Cricket Club,
Successor Knickerbockers,
Education American,
Sol White,
Railroad Slavery,
Plessy Ferguson,
African American,
jim crow,
african americans,
color line,
african american,
organized baseball,
america's game,
national association,
white black,
base ball,
jim crow laws,
supreme court,
baseball america's game,
understand history race,
|
Acceptance Essays
