Brushing Back Jim Crow by Bruce Adelson

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Brushing Back Jim Crow:
The Integration of Minor-League Baseball in the American South

by Bruce Adelson

288 pages, 20 b&w illus, 6 x 9 • Cloth $29.95 •

ISBN 0-8139-1884-7

"I received three letters that morning, one at a time. First one said I'd be shot if I sat in the dugout. Second one said I'd be shot if I went on the field, and the third one said I'd be shot if I took the mound. I figured all three were from the same person. Probably someone just trying to scare me. I didn't tell Dutch Meyer, the manager of our club, because I was afraid he wouldn't let me start. Dutch doesn't know about it to this day. Even though I thought the person who sent the letters was only bluffing, I was a little scared when I went out to the mound. Later on, I didn't even think about it and it was just another ball game. We won it without any trouble . . . . The people treated me very nice in Dallas and everywhere else, too. Once in a while a ballplayer or a fan would holler something at me, but you've got to expect that. All in all, I had no complaints . . . .'
Dave Hoskins won nine games and lost three as a spot starter and reliever for the Cleveland Indians in 1953. He played sparingly the next season and then bounced around the minors for several years, never returning to the big leagues. He died in 1970." --from Chapter 3

Dave Hoskins signs an autograph for a fan in an early season game at Burnett Field, Dallas, 1952.

WHILE JACKIE ROBINSON is justly famous for breaking the color line in major league baseball in 1947, other young African-American players, among them Hank Aaron, continued to struggle for acceptance on southern farm teams well into the 1960s. As Bruce Adelson writes, their presence in the South Atlantic, Carolina, and other minor leagues represented not only a quest for individual athletic achievement; simply by hitting, fielding, and signing autographs alongside their white teammates, African-American ballplayers helped to end segregation in the Jim Crow South.

In writing this book, Adelson interviewed dozens of athletes, managers, and sportswriters who witnessed this important but largely unrecognized front in the ongoing civil rights movement. When nineteen-year-old Percy Miller took the field for the Danville (Virginia) Leafs in 1951, his presence on the roster was not the result of altruism: the team's white owners saw attendance flagging and recognized the need for more African-American fans. Two years later, Hank Aaron and his two black teammates for the Milwaukee Braves' Jacksonville (Florida) farm team were regularly greeted by racial invective, even bottles and stones, on the road. And Ed Charles endured nine years of discrimination in the southern minor leagues before breaking into the majors and finally winning the World Series with the Mets in 1969.

Slowly, through the vehicle of baseball, these African Americans shattered Jim Crow restrictions and met the backlash against Brown v. Board of Education while simultaneously challenging long-held perceptions of racial inadequacy by performing on the field. Brushing Back Jim Crow weaves their firsthand accounts into a narrative that spans the long season of racism in the United States, gripping fans of history and baseball as surely as a pennant--or a home run--race.

Reviews

"Even after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, segregation ruled the minor league circuits of the deep South, the backbone of organized baseball's player development system. Interracial competition was still banned, and black fans were barred from the grandstands and public facilities. Circuits such as the South Atlantic League, the Carolina League, the Texas League, and many others would not be fully integrated until 1964, after a combination of talented black players, economics (paying black fans thronged to root for their own), and local black boycotts forced even notoriously resistant leagues such as the Southern Association to integrate. Adelson's outstanding survey of the period examines the groundbreaking role of professional baseball, which paved the way for social mixing of blacks and whites and anticipated victories of the NAACP and the civil rights movement that would soon follow (there's also an excellent account of legislative and judicial decisions throughout the 1950s and '60s). Most importantly, Adelson documents the moving experiences of such extraordinary men as Percy Miller, who integrated the Carolina League in 1951; future big leaguers Manny Mota and Felipe Alou; future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Billy Williams; and visionary white owners, including Dave Burnett of the Texas League. Adelson's account of their struggles is much more than a good baseball book: it's a detailed history of how the struggle for integration and civil rights played out in the daily life of a profession that just happens to be the national pastime."
--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"An important book that shows social ills alleviated by courageous individuals making small, often lonely sacrifices to no public acclaim."
--Booklist

"The integration of the minor leagues is of great historical significance, not just for the history of baseball, but for the history of race relations in the American South. Adelson knows these teams and their players, and he places his material, much of it new, in the context of other events taking place in the region, thereby capturing the dynamics and politics of the controversy. This is a valuable addition to the current literature not only for baseball fans but for anyone interested in American History."
--Jules Tygiel, author of Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy

The Author

Bruce Adelson is author, with Rod Beaton, of The Minor League Baseball Book and of four children's sports books. A past commentator for NPR, he has written about baseball for the Washington Post, USA Today's Baseball Weekly, Sport Magazine, and Baseball America.

Related Links

Brushing Back Jim Crow:
The Integration of Minor League Baseball in the American South
by Bruce Adelson
288 pages, 20 b and w illus, 6 x 9 cloth
ISBN 0-8139-1884-7 $29.95

http://www.upress.virginia.edu/adelson.html

Revised 8/18/04

Reviews Author Related Links To Order		Brushing Back Jim Crow: The Integration of Minor-League Baseball in the American South
		by Bruce Adelson
		288 pages, 20 b&w illus, 6 x 9 • Cloth $29.95 •
		ISBN 0-8139-1884-7
		"I received three letters that morning, one at a time. First one said I'd be shot if I sat in the dugout. Second one said I'd be shot if I went on the field, and the third one said I'd be shot if I took the mound. I figured all three were from the same person. Probably someone just trying to scare me. I didn't tell Dutch Meyer, the manager of our club, because I was afraid he wouldn't let me start. Dutch doesn't know about it to this day. Even though I thought the person who sent the letters was only bluffing, I was a little scared when I went out to the mound. Later on, I didn't even think about it and it was just another ball game. We won it without any trouble . . . . The people treated me very nice in Dallas and everywhere else, too. Once in a while a ballplayer or a fan would holler something at me, but you've got to expect that. All in all, I had no complaints . . . .' Dave Hoskins won nine games and lost three as a spot starter and reliever for the Cleveland Indians in 1953. He played sparingly the next season and then bounced around the minors for several years, never returning to the big leagues. He died in 1970." --from Chapter 3
Dave Hoskins signs an autograph for a fan in an early season game at Burnett Field, Dallas, 1952.		WHILE JACKIE ROBINSON is justly famous for breaking the color line in major league baseball in 1947, other young African-American players, among them Hank Aaron, continued to struggle for acceptance on southern farm teams well into the 1960s. As Bruce Adelson writes, their presence in the South Atlantic, Carolina, and other minor leagues represented not only a quest for individual athletic achievement; simply by hitting, fielding, and signing autographs alongside their white teammates, African-American ballplayers helped to end segregation in the Jim Crow South. In writing this book, Adelson interviewed dozens of athletes, managers, and sportswriters who witnessed this important but largely unrecognized front in the ongoing civil rights movement. When nineteen-year-old Percy Miller took the field for the Danville (Virginia) Leafs in 1951, his presence on the roster was not the result of altruism: the team's white owners saw attendance flagging and recognized the need for more African-American fans. Two years later, Hank Aaron and his two black teammates for the Milwaukee Braves' Jacksonville (Florida) farm team were regularly greeted by racial invective, even bottles and stones, on the road. And Ed Charles endured nine years of discrimination in the southern minor leagues before breaking into the majors and finally winning the World Series with the Mets in 1969. Slowly, through the vehicle of baseball, these African Americans shattered Jim Crow restrictions and met the backlash against Brown v. Board of Education while simultaneously challenging long-held perceptions of racial inadequacy by performing on the field. Brushing Back Jim Crow weaves their firsthand accounts into a narrative that spans the long season of racism in the United States, gripping fans of history and baseball as surely as a pennant--or a home run--race.
		Reviews
		"Even after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier in 1947, segregation ruled the minor league circuits of the deep South, the backbone of organized baseball's player development system. Interracial competition was still banned, and black fans were barred from the grandstands and public facilities. Circuits such as the South Atlantic League, the Carolina League, the Texas League, and many others would not be fully integrated until 1964, after a combination of talented black players, economics (paying black fans thronged to root for their own), and local black boycotts forced even notoriously resistant leagues such as the Southern Association to integrate. Adelson's outstanding survey of the period examines the groundbreaking role of professional baseball, which paved the way for social mixing of blacks and whites and anticipated victories of the NAACP and the civil rights movement that would soon follow (there's also an excellent account of legislative and judicial decisions throughout the 1950s and '60s). Most importantly, Adelson documents the moving experiences of such extraordinary men as Percy Miller, who integrated the Carolina League in 1951; future big leaguers Manny Mota and Felipe Alou; future Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Billy Williams; and visionary white owners, including Dave Burnett of the Texas League. Adelson's account of their struggles is much more than a good baseball book: it's a detailed history of how the struggle for integration and civil rights played out in the daily life of a profession that just happens to be the national pastime." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "An important book that shows social ills alleviated by courageous individuals making small, often lonely sacrifices to no public acclaim." --Booklist "The integration of the minor leagues is of great historical significance, not just for the history of baseball, but for the history of race relations in the American South. Adelson knows these teams and their players, and he places his material, much of it new, in the context of other events taking place in the region, thereby capturing the dynamics and politics of the controversy. This is a valuable addition to the current literature not only for baseball fans but for anyone interested in American History." --Jules Tygiel, author of Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy
		The Author
		Bruce Adelson is author, with Rod Beaton, of The Minor League Baseball Book and of four children's sports books. A past commentator for NPR, he has written about baseball for the Washington Post, USA Today's Baseball Weekly, Sport Magazine, and Baseball America.
		Related Links


		Brushing Back Jim Crow: The Integration of Minor League Baseball in the American South by Bruce Adelson 288 pages, 20 b and w illus, 6 x 9 cloth ISBN 0-8139-1884-7 $29.95
		http://www.upress.virginia.edu/adelson.html
		Revised 8/18/04

Brushing Back Jim Crow: The Integration of Minor-League Baseball in the American South

Reviews

The Author

Related Links

Brushing Back Jim Crow:
The Integration of Minor-League Baseball in the American South