Oxford English Dictionary

Pride and Passion Events:

Kickoff Event:
Jackie Robinson, Baseball and the Evolution of American Social Policy
Thursday, November 5, 6:30p-8:30p
Hughes Main Library, Meeting Rooms A-C

Dr. Abel Bartley looks at the impact of Jackie Robinson’s integration of baseball and how it set the stage for future integrative efforts. For many African-Americans, the seminal event that signaled the change in race relations was the integration of professional baseball. This gave African-Americans an opportunity to compete with whites on an even plane. Dr. Bartley’s presentation also reintroduces people to the America of yesterday and how sports and particularly Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers, helped transform American society. Join us afterward for the exhibit’s opening reception. Refreshments served. Call 527-9241.

Series Humanities Scholar:

• Dr. Abel A. Bartley, Director of the Pan-African Studies Program and Associate Professor, Clemson University Department of History, is our humanities scholar for the Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience exhibition. He received his Ph.D. from Florida State University. Two of Dr. Bartley’s monographs are: Keeping the Faith: Race, Politics, and Social Development in Jacksonville, Florida, 1940-1970 (2000) and Akron (Black America Series, 2004). He has also authored numerous essays and articles on the subjects of race, politics and the Civil Rights Movement. Prior to arriving at Clemson University in 2004, Dr. Bartley had been a professor for ten years at the University of Akron, where he was involved in teaching and building a strong Pan-African studies program. Dr. Bartley is presenting three programs during the exhibition period.

William Behrends will discuss some of his individual works and the research and preparation behind sculpture as a piece moves from idea to model to monument. Although he has created sculptures of public figures from all walks of life, his program here will focus on his extensive work creating baseball portrait sculptures around the country. Call 527-9241.

Presenter:

• Nationally renowned sculptor Williams Behrends studied architecture at North Carolina State University and fine arts and sculpture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Although not strictly a portraitist, Mr. Behrends has excelled in that art; his portrait sculptures in bronze, marble and terra cotta have been widely praised for their likeness, quality of detail and sensitive evocation of character. These include statues of baseball greats Jackie Robinson for Brooklyn’s KeySpan Park, Willie Mays for the San Francisco Giants, Tony Gwynn for the San Diego Padres and Negro League legend Buck O’Neill for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mr. Behrends, who resides in Tyron, N.C., has been creating sculptures for 35 years.

A panel of players, authors and researchers will discuss South Carolina Negro Textile Leagues. Cornell Blakely will discuss his career with Greenville Black Spinners Baseball Team. Tom Perry, with his research assistant Mac Kirkpatrick, will discuss his book, Textile League Baseball, which contains a chapter on the Negro Textile Leagues in and around Greenville. Tom Perry and Pat Obley co-authored the upcoming “Chino” Smith biography: Darlington County native Charlie "Chino" Smith was a Negro Leaguer whose career was brief, starting in 1924 and ending with his tragic death in 1932. In an interview shortly his death, Kansas City Monarchs legend Buck O’Neil told Pat Obley, "There’s a lot of people who need to know about Chino Smith. Tell the story."Call 527-9241.

Chino Smith Biography

Cornell Blakely Interview

Presenters:

• Cornell Blakely is a Radio Station Manager and a former player with the Greenville Black Spinners baseball club.


• Tom Perry received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Wake Forest University. Mr. Perry is a noted sports author who’s writing credits include three books: Textile League Baseball (1993), The Southern Textile Basketball Tournament (1997), Just Joe, Baseball’s Natural, as told by his wife (2007) and a two-act play, Shoeless Joe, which premiered in 1995. He is currently co-authoring a biography of Charlie “Chino” Smith.


• Pat Obley is Sports Editor of the Charlotte Sun, Port Charlotte, Florida. He is a seven-time national award-winner (Associated Press Sports Editors) for feature, project and enterprise reporting. Mr. Obley has written on the Negro Leagues and is co-author with Tom Perry of the upcoming “Chino” Smith biography.


• Mac Kirkpatrick is Director of Institutional Research and Registrar at Lander University. Mr. Kirkpatrick was research assistant for the book Textile League Baseball, co-author of The Southern Textile League Basketball Tournament: A History and producer of the play Shoeless Joe. Mr. Kirkpatrick is a graduate of Furman University.

Dr. Abel Bartley looks at the development of the Negro Leagues and their impact on African-Americans in the Upstate of South Carolina. Dr. Bartley also discusses how African-Americans developed their attraction to baseball. Also covered is a look at the early history of black baseball leagues and baseball legends that pervaded black society during that period. Dr. Bartley will also briefly compare the African-American baseball stars to the white baseball stars. Call 527-9241.

Presenter:

• Dr. Abel A. Bartley, Director of the Pan-African Studies Program and Associate Professor, Clemson University Department of History, is our humanities scholar for the Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience exhibition. He received his Ph.D. from Florida State University. Two of Dr. Bartley’s monographs are: Keeping the Faith: Race, Politics, and Social Development in Jacksonville, Florida, 1940-1970 (2000) and Akron (Black America Series, 2004). He has also authored numerous essays and articles on the subjects of race, politics and the Civil Rights Movement. Prior to arriving at Clemson University in 2004, Dr. Bartley had been a professor for ten years at the University of Akron, where he was involved in teaching and building a strong Pan-African studies program. Dr. Bartley is presenting three programs during the exhibition period.

Join us for popcorn and a movie! Jackie Robinson stars as himself in this classic black and white 1950 feature film that portrays Jackie’s struggles to integrate baseball and become the first African-American player on a major league baseball team. Contains strong language referring to race. Recommended for ages 12 and up. There will be drawings for door prizes. Door prizes donated courtesy of our very own Greenville Drive baseball team, the South Atlantic League affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, and the Russell Sportswear Company. Call 527-9241.

John Rivers (member of the Cannon Street All-Star team in 1955) and sports columnist Gene Sapakoff will discuss the Cannon Street All-Stars from Charleston, South Carolina. The Cannon Street All-Stars was the first African-American Little League All-Star team in the state that qualified for postseason play. However, the team was denied tournament access at city, state and regional levels when white teams refused to play them. Eventually, the team was invited to the 1955 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., but was not allowed to play because of its advancement by forfeit. Virtually all of the players went on to successful careers in various professions. The Cannon Street team was the subject of Gene Sapakoff’s 1995 article in Sports Illustrated. After the Sports Illustrated article was published, the story of the Cannon Street All-Stars was picked up by HBO, ABC News and ESPN Classic, among others. Most recently, the story of the Cannon Street All-Stars was featured on Nightline with Ted Koppel. Call 527-9241.

Presenters:

• John Rivers is an architect and founder of JIRA, John I. Rivers Associates Inc. of Atlanta and Columbus, GA. Mr. Rivers is a native of Charleston and was a member of the 1955 Cannon Street All-Stars. He is a graduate of Hampton Institute and studied architecture at Columbia University.


• Gene Sapakoff has been a sports columnist for the Post and Courier in Charleston since 1986 and has also written for many magazines, including The Sporting News, Baseball Digest, Baseball America, Sport and espn.com. Mr. Sapakoff is a native of Portland, Oregon and a graduate of Colorado State University.

Dr. Bartley offers the final program in our series by presenting an overview of baseball during the Depression and the World War II periods. He examines how baseball served as an effective diversion from the Great Depression and also helped keep American spirits high during the traumatic war years. Dr. Bartley briefly introduces the women’s leagues and the way baseball was able to survive the loss of so many able-bodied men to the war effort. Call 527-9241.

Presenter:

• Dr. Abel A. Bartley, Director of the Pan-African Studies Program and Associate Professor, Clemson University Department of History, is our humanities scholar for the Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience exhibition. He received his Ph.D. from Florida State University. Two of Dr. Bartley’s monographs are: Keeping the Faith: Race, Politics, and Social Development in Jacksonville, Florida, 1940-1970 (2000) and Akron (Black America Series, 2004). He has also authored numerous essays and articles on the subjects of race, politics and the Civil Rights Movement. Prior to arriving at Clemson University in 2004, Dr. Bartley had been a professor for ten years at the University of Akron, where he was involved in teaching and building a strong Pan-African studies program. Dr. Bartley is presenting three programs during the exhibition period.

Pride and Passion: The African-American Baseball Experience, a traveling exhibition for libraries, was organized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York, and the American Library Association Public Programs Office, Chicago. The traveling exhibition has been made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: great ideas brought to life.

The traveling exhibition is based on an exhibition of the same name on permanent display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.