{"id":5467,"date":"2017-05-15T14:55:08","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T19:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?p=5467"},"modified":"2018-01-08T15:33:29","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T21:33:29","slug":"negro-league-baseball-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/negro-league-baseball-curriculum\/","title":{"rendered":"Essman Works to Preserve Legacy of Negro League Baseball"},"content":{"rendered":"
Any baseball fan knows the Philadelphia Phillies, and old-timers may remember the Philadelphia Athletics. But how many know about the Philadelphia Stars? They played in the Negro National League, a vital piece of sports history crucial to understanding how the game is played today. Meghan Essman, assistant professor in the Rawlings Sport Business Management program, wants to make sure that link isn\u2019t forgotten.<\/p>\n
She recently worked with the Phillies to create \u201cAmerica at Bat: The Color of Baseball,\u201d a website and curriculum that recounts the years that African American players were barred from the big leagues and had their own circuit instead.<\/p>\n \u201cIt focuses on the climate that led to the emergence of the Negro Leagues in our country,\u201d Essman says. \u201cIt covers playing conditions \u2014 including life on the road, economics, Negro League organizations throughout the country and how Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier led to the end of Negro League baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n To keep alive the memory and the lessons from those years, Essman worked with the Phillies MLB Urban Youth Academy, which offers skills instruction to help develop the next generation of baseball players. That training is both physical and academic, she says, and places the Negro National League into the larger context of American history.<\/p>\n \u201cWe push children to think critically,\u201d Essman says, \u201cand to reflect on the conditions and the perseverance of those who were playing the game. They need to look at how baseball has evolved and think about the challenges those players faced.\u201d<\/p>\n Jim Crow laws often meant players were banned from many hotels and restaurants, so they had to find lodging at the homes of sympathetic fans.<\/p>\n One portion of the curriculum focuses on Philadelphia because the Phillies commissioned Essman to create the program. Essman worked for the Phillies for 15 years before joining Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵAPPin 2015.<\/p>\n<\/a>