(Virtual) Baseball: Breaking the Color Barrier

Ted Reinstein, journalist and author, has written Before Brooklyn. It was a lost battle in a war that was ultimately won by Robinson in 1947. This book tells the story of the little-known heroes who fought segregation in baseball, from communist newspaper reporters to the Pullman car porters who saw to it that black newspapers espousing integration in professional sports reached the homes of blacks throughout the country.

It also reminds us that the first black player in professional baseball was not Jackie Robinson but Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884, and that for a time integrated teams were not that unusual. And then, as segregation throughout the country hardened, the exclusion of blacks in baseball quietly became the norm, and the battle for integration began anew. “Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier is a must read for baseball fans, historians, and anyone who cares about integration in the US. This program is a collaboration between the Mount Kisco Library and 3 other libraries – New Rochelle, Mamaroneck and Somers.

Please register online or call the library in order to have access to this meeting.
Our programs are supported by the Friends of the Somers Library through our patrons’ generous contributions.
The Somers Library ~ (914) 232-5717 ~ www.somerslibrary.org