Pride & Passion: The African-American Baseball Experience
October 15 - December 3, 2010

Schedule Booklist Exhibit Details Tours

The Harper Woods Public Library is proud to bring an exciting exhibit to our community.  “Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience,” tells the story of black baseball players in the U.S. over the past century and a half.  The traveling exhibition is composed of colorful freestanding panels featuring photographs of teams, players, original documents and artifacts in the collections of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and in other institutions and collections across the U.S.  The library is sponsoring free programs and other events for the public in connection with the exhibition. 

Baseball is one of America’s central institutions, and it has long reflected the complicated and painful history of race in the United States.  In the 1880s, more than 30 African Americans were on teams in baseball’s major and minor leagues.  During the 1887 season, league owners agreed to make no new contracts with African-American players.  From that time on, until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, baseball was a segregated sport.  Learn about the successful professional leagues of black baseball, which developed a reputation for a fast-running, power-hitting game.  Legendary figures such as Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, James “Cool Papa” Bell and Satchel Paige barnstormed around the country for decades, thrilling audiences with a fast-running, power-hitting style of play.  Negro league baseball grew into a multi-million dollar enterprise and a focus of great pride in the African-American community. 

Pride & Passion: The African-American Baseball Experience, a traveling exhibition for libraries, was organized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office, Chicago.  The traveling exhibition has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: great ideas brought to life.

The traveling exhibition is based on an exhibition of the same name on permanent display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.  

 

Harper Woods Public Library
Michigan's First Green LibraryTM
19601 Harper Avenue • Harper Woods, MI 48225
HWL@libcoop.net • (313) 343-2575