The Negro Leagues: Celebrating Baseball’s Unsung Heroes by Matt Doeden is written in a simple, easy to understand format with lots of pictures, however, the issues are very complex.  At a time in history when baseball leagues were segregated by the color of one’s skin,  Doeden details some differences between the better-known baseball leagues where all players had light colored skin and the lesser known “negro leagues” where most players were of African American descent and the records were by word of mouth rather than written down.  It illustrates the difficulties of playing as people of African descent, yet the black community overcame many of these difficulties to produce interesting games and outstanding players.

This book also may help you to understand current controversies in the media.  We now view multiracial teams and players are recognized based on their ability to play, rather than the color of their skin.  However, it is the black team members who are silently protesting the national anthem at football games as black members of society are still not treated equally in our communities.  Unfortunately, white commentators and politicians fail to understand what they are protesting.

The book also illustrates the outcomes of integrating the baseball teams as the negro teams disintegrated as their best players joined the integrated teams. This can help us understand the current controversy of integrating Boy Scouts and allowing girls into their organization.  Will allowing girls into Boy Scouts lead to a weakening of Girl Scouts as it draws away the most involved supporters, families, and girls?

If a library doesn’t have a good text already covering this topic, The Negro Leagues: Celebrating Baseball’s Unsung Heroes fits the bill as an additional purchase.