Early Integrated Baseball in Missouri

Authors

Mark E. Eberle, Fort Hays State UniversityFollow

Files

DOI

10.58809/RMEX4036

Date

5-11-2023

Abstract

Beginning in the years before the US Civil War, African Americans fled or emigrated from the South to northern and western states and territories. Descendants of these emigrants occasionally had the opportunity to play baseball for predominantly white town teams and minor league clubs prior to 1946 under circumstances documented in states such as Kansas and California. Those same opportunities were virtually nonexistent in states where slavery had been legal at the outset of the Civil War. A few instances of integrated baseball teams involved in intercity competition in Missouri, a border state that remained in the Union, have been documented between 1886 to 1901. All of the teams identified so far represented cities and towns in northwestern Missouri, near the borders of Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. The stories of these teams and Black ballplayers are described from available information published in contemporary newspapers.

Keywords

baseball history, integrated baseball, segregated baseball, color line, Missouri baseball, Kansas City baseball, Bud Fowler, Frank Maupin, Frank Palmer

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Rights

© The Author(s)

Comments

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Recommended Citation

Eberle, Mark E., "Early Integrated Baseball in Missouri" (2023). Monographs. 35.
DOI: 10.58809/RMEX4036
Available at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/all_monographs/35