A snapshot of the Negro Leagues opens at Sheldon Galleries Sept. 1
Of the St. Louis American
Until 1947, there was white baseball in America and there was black baseball.
There was segregated Major League Baseball and Negro League Baseball.
It, like America, was a study of racism in black and white.
While teams from the leagues would sometimes play exhibition games, Major League Baseball’s racist leadership continued to ban blacks from playing for decades.
But black players and the Negro Leagues not only suceeded, they excelled. Negro League teams prospered and produced their own superstars, many of whom are enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
It is fitting that images of some of the Negro League’s greatest players are now part of a national traveling gallery entitlted “The National Pastime in Black and White: The Negro Baseball Leagues, 1867-1955,” which opens at The Sheldon Art Galleries on September 1. The exhibit celebrates the Negro Leauges (and there were several) through 60 photographs and a selection of rare artifacts.
With photos and portraits of stars including Satchel Paige, St. Louis-born James “Cool Papa” Bell and Rube Foster of Kansas City, the exhibition examines the role these teams had in their communities, as well as other social aspects of the Negro leagues, such as the importance of the weekly black newspapers, barnstorming, and the impact of traveling black teams on rural, mostly white communities.
Today, the term “Negro Leagues” is used loosely. It refers to the organized leagues of all-black teams, which came into existence after 1920. But the term is frequently used in connection with any black team, whether or not it was affiliated with one of the actual leagues. Often the term “black baseball” is used when discussing the broad culture of African Americans who were forced to play the game within the walls of segregation.
Baseball has long mirrored the complex and generally painful issue of race in the United States. But baseball was actually a forerunner in the realm of race relations, as the integration of the Major Leagues predated all the early civil rights landmarks. The circumstances that led up to the integration of the Major Leagues, and society as a whole, are hard to imagine separated from the proving ground of the Negro Leagues.
The National Pastime in Black and White is curated by David Conrads, of Shawnee Mission, Kan., and sponsored by Exhibits USA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance, a private, nonprofit organization founded in 1972.
The not-for-profit Sheldon Art Galleries exhibit works by local, national, and international artists in all media. More than 6,000 square feet of the gallery’s spaces on the 2nd floor are permanently devoted to rotating exhibits of photography, architecture, jazz art and history, and children’s art. A sculpture garden features periodic rotations and installations, and the Founders’ Gallery on the lower level features art of all media.
“The National Pastime in Black and White: The Negro Baseball Leagues, 1867-1955” will run at The Sheldon Art Galleries, 3648 Washington Blvd., from September 2 through October 22 in the Founder’s Gallery. An opening reception will be held at 5 p.m. Thursday, September 1. Gallery hours are noon-8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon-5 p.m. Wednesdays and Fridays and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.
