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How a Black Youth Baseball Team’s Exclusion Exposed America’s Racial Divide

They treated a simple childhood dream as a threat to the racial status quo.

Sal
Lessons from History

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Cannon Street All Stars in the stands at the 1955 Little League World Series | Image Source: Preservation Society (No Known Copyright Restrictions)

Sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, marches down the broad streets of Washington, Freedom Riders stepping off buses into hostile towns, church pews filled with voices crying out for justice, and tired yet hopeful activists singing We Shall Overcome.

These are the scenes we picture when we remember the Civil Rights Movement. However, we often overlook that the push for equality was also happening in places we don’t usually notice, such as markets, salon and even playgrounds.

One such incident was when young boys were stopped, harassed and bullied simply for playing baseball because they were an African American team. These boys wanted nothing more than to play the game they loved, but they became targets of racial prejudice which was older than them. John Rivers, the boy who was once part of the team, when asked about the YMCA’s significance said,

“It’s part of American history. It’s part of the civil rights movement. If you strip away baseball, it’s part of the 1950s movement. It’s tied to Brown v. Board of Education…It’s a tragedy to take dreams away from youngsters. I knew it then. I know it now, and I’ve seen to…

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