Author Larry Lester speaks about the "Pride and Passion" on April 27.

Submitted by syoung on March 3, 2011

Larry Lester, co-founder of the Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, and author of several books on the Negro Leagues, will speak about the history of African-Americans in baseball from 1860 to present day.

He will dedicate a substantial portion of the program to answering questions, and will also be selling and signing his books at this event.
 
This event is presented in conjunction with the "Pride and Passion: African American Baseball Experience" exhibit on display at our Main branch until April 29. It will take place on Wednesday, April 27 at 6:30 pm in the second floor events room of the Main branch. It is free and open to the public.
 
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The Huntsville-Madison County Public Library is one of only 25 libraries in the United States selected to host the traveling exhibition, which was organized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y., and the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, Chicago. 

Based upon original documents, photos and artifacts in the collections of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and other institutions across the United States, the exhibition examines the remarkable story of how African-American baseball players in the late 19th century, shut out of major league baseball, formed their own professional leagues and barnstormed around the country, playing an exciting style of fast-running and power-hitting baseball that attracted huge audiences. Negro league players such as Rube Foster, Josh Gibson, Oscar Charleston, James “Cool Papa” Bell and Satchel Paige became famous, and black teams such as the Chicago American Giants, Kansas City Monarchs, St. Louis Stars, Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays were a focus of pride for the African-American community. The exhibition also looks at the career of Jackie Robinson, who broke the 20th-century color barrier in baseball and led the way to integrated teams in the 1950s.

The “Pride and Passion” traveling exhibition is made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH): great ideas brought to life.  The traveling exhibition is based upon a permanent exhibition on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.  For more information, please visit http://web.baseballhalloffame.org/index.jsp

Please contact Luisa at lmorenilla [at] hmcpl [dot] org if you have questions about the "Pride and Passion" exhibit or programs.

Photo courtesy of National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

East Squad from 1939 East-West game