to perform outside of the white dominated arenas of baseball.
To some extent, all of the above is true, but if you were to ask John Henry Lloyd if he was a victim or if he was born before his time, he would reply:
I do not consider that I was born at the wrong time. I felt it was the right time, for I had a chance to prove the ability of our race in this sport, and because many of us did our very best to uphold the traditions of the game and of the world of sport, we have given the Negro a greater opportunity now to be accepted into the major leagues with other Americans. (Peterson, 1992, p. 79)
Did Mr. Lloyd have a real opportunity to 'prove our race in this sport' of baseball? To say that blacks could not play organized baseball is not entirely correct. They played in organized leagues, which the white majority refused to recognize. Black baseball was "hidden or at least obscured from the view of whites," and "like black newspapers, black universities, and black music, offered a vital, vibrant and often innovative alternative for those excluded from the dominant American institutions." (Peterson, 1992, p. 16) The story of black baseball (the Negro Leagues) is a prime example of how African Americans overcame the obstacles of segregation and succeeded to such an extent that the vast white majority could no longer ignore them. Baseball provided a vital cultural entity and an illustration of the strength and endurance of an oppressed people.
Thousands of people "turned out to view the curious spectacle of a Negro playing with whites. 'Every good play by him was loudly applauded,' Sporting Life said." (Peterson, 1992, p. 23) This comment, although very similar to those made in the year 1946, does not refer to Jackie Robinson, but rather to a man named Moses Fleetwood Walker. According to The Encyclopedia of Negro League Baseball, Walker, in 1883, was the first professional black baseball player on a white major league team. (Loverro, 2003, p. 301) The National Association of Baseball Players, in 1867, drew the first-ever color line in baseball. In 1872, the National Association of Professional Baseball Players continued the tradition of the color line by creating the 'gentleman's agreement.' From 1883 to 1889, however, there were a handful of black athletes playing professional white baseball. In 1889, they drove out Walker, the sole surviving black baseball player, and it would not be until 1947 that an-other black ballplayer would inhabit the Major Leagues. (Peterson, 1992, pp. 16-24, 44)
