Negro League Thesis

The Negro League was a professional baseball league made for the African Americans who were segregated from playing baseball on the same team as the professional Caucasian baseball players. This league was just one of many that wanted to help stop segregation in sports, but in order to accomplish their goal they needed followers and supporters, and that was the hard part. They not only needed to persuade the African Americans, but also the Caucasians who started the segregation. They needed the color barrier in sports to be broken. The Negro League set out for African American players to be equal to caucasian players. Negro League players wanted the same salary, same popularity, and same life as the caucasians in the MLB. The Negro League …show more content…
Foster had to take action and began creating this league when team owners decided to draw the color line against African Americans in 1887. Then by the end of the 1880s, they had released all their African American players and agreed not to sign any more to contracts. Many people did not like the new idea of two separate leagues, but many others thought it would be a good idea because they would have only their race, their players, and their teams in the league they can watch. The players didn't like it either for their paychecks were now less. The Negro League wanted to change everyone's way of looking at the color barrier and they wanted mixed race teams, players, and stadiums. As it said in William Porter's article Negro League Baseball: Era of Pride Despite Prejudice “Players in the Negro League were some of the most talented and inspiring sports figures of their day.” The Negro League wanted to show the world what the other side can …show more content…
As Gardner, R., & Shortelle, D. said in The Forgotten Players: The Story of Black Baseball in America “As might be expected, such aggressiveness led to fights. One of the biggest rumbles in league history was between the Monarchs and the Chicago American Giants.” This fight wasn't favorable at all for the Negro League’s side because it showed what can happen when African Americans and Caucasians were playing on the same field. This made it even harder for the players in the Negro League to become professional baseball players in the MLB. However, this fight did a great deal to help the Caucasians because it helped them keep the league's segregated and made it harder to desegregate them. It also said that they fought due to offensive words said towards the African American team. There's been a lot said about the Negro League but what did the Caucasians and MLB think of it