The Fannie Lou Hamer Institute @ COFO, The Institute for Social Justice and Race Relations, The Department of English and Modern Foreign Languages, and The Department of History and Philosophy present: Fences: African Americans in Major League Baseball featuring Curtis Granderson at COFO (1017 JR Lynch St.) at 6pm Thursday, Feb. 9.
Before Jackie Robinson integrated baseball in 1947, African-Americans had no choice but to play in the Negro Leagues. Because of this integration, one would think that African-Americans would naturally gravitate to baseball. That has not been the case. As of now, the percentage of African-Americans playing baseball is just below eight percent. The numbers did rise during the 1970s and 1980s. Since that time, the numbers have been on a steady decline. Curtis Granderson, outfielder for the New York Mets and poet laureate C. Liegh McInnis, will discuss this trend and other issues related to African American baseball players.