CHARLOTTE, N.C. (QC Life) - Johnson C. Smith University unveiled a new Negro League baseball exhibit, on loan from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
The exhibit, housed on the second floor of the JCSU James B. Duke Memorial Library, showcases the teams, players and big moments in Negro League history, including the first Negro League World Series.
The league was developed at a time when black players were not allowed to play in Major League Baseball.
Black players excelled in the sport despite the barriers.
Interim library director Brandon Lunsford and Professor Erin DiCesare hope the exhibit will trigger renewed interest in this moment in American history.
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“People should understand how important the Negro Leagues were to the communities,” Lunsford said. “People came to watch these games. They were just a real social gathering place, kind of a see-and-be-seen kind of place. Also, I think people should realize a lot of things the Negro Leagues did got absorbed into the major leagues whenever those players came over. Night baseball was something Kansas City Monarchs created as a promotional thing.”
Lunsford says there are a few things students may not know about the Negro League.
“In the Negro League games, the players played a different way than the white players did,” he said. “They kind of used speed and grit and kind of sliding really hard and fighting for runs and that changed the game a little bit. That’s a huge part of the game that we know now.”
Lunsford also added some JCSU-centered images and artifacts to the exhibit like a photo of the Biddle University baseball team and a photo of the Second Ward High School baseball team.
The Negro League baseball exhibit at JCSU is available now through June.
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