African-American baseball exhibit coming to FSCC

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- The story of African-Americans in baseball will be told through a traveling exhibition later this month at Fort Scott Community College.

"Pride and Passion: the African-American Baseball Experience," a new exhibition opening at FSCC on March 27, examines the challenges faced by African-American baseball players starting in the post-Civil War era as they sought equal opportunities in their sport. The exhibit is free of charge to the public and will be on display through May 5 in the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center at FSCC, 2108 S. Horton St.

"It's a look at a culture and it's a social studies lesson, really," Susan Messer, a research assistant at FSCC and project director for the exhibit, said. "We'll be looking at a society and a culture and how it changed."

According to FSCC, the exhibition is based upon original documents, photos and artifacts, and examines the remarkable story of how African-American baseball players in the late 19th century, who were shut out of major league baseball, formed their own professional leagues. As teams barnstormed across the country, they displayed an exciting style of fast running and power hitting baseball that attracted huge audiences. These players helped pave the way for integration of the major leagues in the mid-20th century.

The exhibit will feature such greats as Rube Foster, Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson, and Satchel Paige, and teams such as the Kansas City Monarchs, the Chicago American Giants, the Pittsburgh Crawfords, and the Homestead Grays. The exhibit is divided into six key time periods of African-American baseball history; 1860-1887, 1887-1919, 1920-1932, and 1933-1946, 1947, and 1948 to present day.

In the spring of 2008, FSCC started the process of trying to obtain a Small Grants for Libraries Program grant to bring the exhibit to Fort Scott. FSCC Associate Dean of Grants and Institutional Advancement Cindy Bartelsmeyer helped Messer through the grant application process and the college received the grant in August of that year, Messer said.

Other than the exhibit, FSCC has a variety of free events and activities concerning African-American baseball history planned through April that will be open to the public, including story time for children and parents, matinee film screenings, guest speakers and presenters, and other performances.

"I was trying to think of extra programming to put with it, so it's more than just a static display, so there were some events to go with it that people would want to see," Messer said.

Messer added, "We are very pleased to have been selected as a site for this exhibition. Players in the Negro leagues were some of the best and most inspiring sports figures of their time. The exhibit reveals the impact that the Negro leagues had on the way baseball is played today, and is a tribute to the perseverance of the African-American players and their supporters on the road to All-American baseball."

Visitors to the exhibit will be able to browse colorful freestanding panels featuring photographs of teams, players, original documents, and artifacts from the collections of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and from other institutions and collections across the United States. The exhibit will be open from 1 to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday except Easter, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Wednesday and Friday, and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Thursday.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the American Library Association Public Programs Office organized the traveling exhibition, which is based on an exhibition of the same name that is on permanent display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

For more information, contact Messer at (620) 223-2700, extension 344, e-mail her at susanm@fortscott.edu, or visit the FSCC Web site, www.fortscott.edu and click on the Special Events link.