Association meeting. Amira rose davis is a professed or professor of history at Penn State College in pennsylvania and is working on a book about the lives and labors of women athletes in the age of jim crow. Thanks for joining us on American History tv. Thanks for having me. Let me begin with your book, expected to be published in about a year. What have you learned so far . So many things. I started the project asking, is there a long history of black women in sports . I found more than i expected to find. There wasnt any archive labeled history of black women in sports. By the time i pieced it together, i would say i got started by finding three women who played baseball in the negro leagues in the 1950s. It was a remarkable story. They played with the man. One things that stuck out about that story was that the owner who had brought in these black women to play against the men said he had something called the gal file, where women and young girls were writing in to request tryouts.
I started the project asking, is there a long history of black women in sports . I found more than i expected to find quite frankly. There wasnt any archive labeled , this is the history of black sports. So i had to piece it together. I got started by finding three women who actually played baseball in the negro leagues in the 1950s. It was a remarkable story. They played with the men. One of the things that stuck out to me about that story was that the owner who had brought in these black women to play with the man said he had a file where women across the country were writing in to request tryouts. That stuck in my head as a young graduate student and i thought, is there a lot of black girls history trying to play baseball, maybe theres is a Hidden History here. So that made me go out to find other stories in the book, from track, to tennis, from baltimore to rome, really looking at black women in sporting history in the 20th century. Let me talk about two names, oe is quite familiar
I thought, hmm, if theres a lot of black girls and women in the mid century trying to play baseball maybe theres a longer history here. Thats what set me out to find some of the stories in the book that take us from track, to tennis, from baltimore to rome, and looking at black women and sporting history in the 20th century. Two names, one quite familiar, hank arron and stony stone . Yeah. Again, like i said, those baseball women who i stumbled upon, they were brought in at the kind of fall of the negro leagues. The negro leagues had been a huge institution in the black community. It provided ownership and upward mobility for Business Owners and opportunity to play for black men at the time. Always pushing for integration of the majors. Jackie robinson broke formally the color line. What we see after that is an exodus of the top tier talent. Theyre going into the majors with no compentation back into their teams. The negro leagues are in steady decline. People are looking around trying
History podcast. Find it now where you listen to podcasts. Professor Amira Rose Davis examines the history of africanamerican women in sports, including women who played baseball in the negro leagues in the 1950s, and women who participated in olympic sports. This interview was recorded at the annual American Historical Association meeting. Is a Amira Rose Davis professed or professor of history at Penn State College in pennsylvania and is working on a book about the lives and labors of women athletes in the age of jim crow. Thanks for joining us on American History tv. Professor davis thanks for having me. Steve let me begin with your book, expected to be published in about a year. What have you learned so far . Professor davis so many things. I started the project asking, is there a long history of black women in sports . I found more than i expected to find. There wasnt any archive labeled history of black women in sports. By the time i pieced it together, i would say i got started
Anniversary of the arrival of captive africans in north america. Today is one of reflection and one of celebration. We are gathered in the front lawn of an historic institution, the oldest Cultural Organization of the commonwealth. For 200 years weve been collecting materials for the purpose of telling the story of this place. Some 14 million artifacts are housed in the walls behind me. We have much to be proud of. We have so very much we must do to be the state museum we deserve, to represent all and welcome all. [applause] dr. Carter, the man considered black history, wrote those who have no record of their forebears lose the inspiration that comes from the teaching of history. How true. We must do more and we will. We are committed at the museum to a Bright Future dedicated to inclusion and access. The exhibit is a legacy project of the 2019 commemoration, american evolution, which remembers events that occurred in virginia in 1619 and continues to influence America Today including