Free Inquiry: Professional Baseball’s History of Racial Segregation in the United States

Last week, I looked at the origins of baseball and its development in the United States during the 18th and 19th century. Here is a link to last week’s blog post:

https://devonsblog.opened.ca/category/edci336/free-inquiry/

This week, I wanted to further educate myself on issues of racial segregation in professional baseball during the 19th and 20th century.

During the mid 19th century, professional baseball began to take shape when the National Association of Baseball Players became the first formal organization of baseball clubs. While there was no formal rule banning African American baseball players from the organization, there was a societal understanding that they were not welcome to join any of the white baseball clubs. However, the colour barrier was not consistently enforced across different areas of the United States and in the late 19th century, there was a number of all-black baseball clubs playing in the minor leagues. In 1884, two African American players played in a recognized major league known as the American Association. However, African American players were subject to harassment and discrimination on and off the field.

Across the nation, there were disturbing signs of discrimination and exclusion. Teams would not allow African American players to sit with white players for team portraits, and all-white teams were refusing to play games against any team with African American players.

In 1920, an entirely African American baseball league known as the Negro League was formed under the leadership of Rube Foster, one of the great African American players from the late 19th century. The African American baseball league lasted until the 1950s, when it folded because the best African American players were finally given the opportunity to play in the Major League of Baseball (MLB).

Resources Consulted:

https://www.britannica.com/sports/Negro-league

https://www.britannica.com/sports/baseball/Blacks-in-baseball

Like many societal institutions of the time, the history of professional baseball is plagued by issues of systemic racism and societal injustices. Next week, I would like to take a deeper look into the integration of African American baseball players and the first African American player to cross the colour barrier in 1946, Jackie Robinson.

“Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers, by Bob Sandberg, 1954” by trialsanderrors is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.