Description
Book SynopsisThe story of black professional baseball provides a remarkable perspective on several major themes in modern African American history: the initial black response to segregation, the struggle to establish successful separate enterprises, and the movement toward integration. This book presents the history of a great African American achievement.
Trade Review"Lanctot takes us beyond the ball field where the Paiges and Gibsons played in forced segregation, and into the commercial and social realities of baseball in black communities. . . . Lanctot offers a rich array of facts that history lovers can feast on." *
Washington Post *
"A fact-filled and thought-provoking book that should be of interest and use to scholars and lay readers interested in sports history, business history, and African American history." *
Enterprise and Society *
"A meticulously researched history that explores the economics, strengths, shortcomings, and legacy of the Negro Leagues." *
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *
"Without nostalgia, Lanctot offers a careful and balanced judgment on the Negro leagues, one that is likely to stand for some time." *
New York Times *
"Neil Lanctot has accomplished something I long thought impossible. He has produced an overview of the institution of black baseball as a business. . . . I doubt that there is a better researched and more exhaustive history of the Negro Leagues out there." * Rob Ruck, author of
Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh *
"This is a superb historical analysis of the Negro Leagues. . . . Lanctot provides, in my opinion, the most detailed and sophisticated examination of black baseball ever written." * David K. Wiggins, author of
Glory Bound: Black Athletes in White America *
Table of ContentsPreface
PART I. SEPARATE BUT EQUAL?
Chapter 1. A Fragile Industry and a Struggling Community.
Chapter 2. External Threats and Internal Dissension
Chapter 3. Growing Pains
Chapter 4. A New Beginning
Chapter 5. An Industry Transformed
Chapter 6. Life Inside a Changing Industry
PART II. INTEGRATION
Chapter 7. On the Outside Looking In
Chapter 8. Breakthrough and Setback
Chapter 9. Integration and the Changing Postwar World
Chapter 10. "The Golden Era Has Passed"
Chapter 11. The End of a Business
List of Abbreviations
Notes
Index
