Teacher's Guide created by Sheila Basile, 6th grade language arts teacher, Isaac E. Young Middle School, New Rochelle, N.Y.

Objectives

Materials
Negro Leagues Baseball and timeline cards (Prior to the lesson, you will need to prepare 16 timeline cards on 16 sheets of 8½ X 11 paper. Write one of the following dates on each card: 1859     1867     1885     1889     1900     1908     1920     1924     1933     1937     1947     1960     1962     1963     1964 - present     1971.) All of these dates are found in the article, "The Negro Leagues," except for 1947 which is on page 41, 1962 which is on page 23, and 1971 which is on page 42. You will need to write the page numbers for each of these three dates on the reverse side of the timeline cards.)

Procedure
Introduce the lesson by writing the word "racism" on the board. Ask students what the word means. Write an appropriate student definition, or a dictionary definition, and use it to lead into the lesson.

Distribute the magazines.

Read the first article, "The Negro Leagues," by Larry Canale aloud or silently.

Discuss the article as a group by asking how racism impacted opportunities for African Americans in baseball.

Introduce the timeline activity by explaining that you are going to construct a timeline to summarize the history of the Negro leagues.

Model an example for the class. Write "early 1900s" on the board or on a blank timeline card. Ask students to refer to page 7 in the magazine to find what happened on that date. Record the information on the board / card when a student volunteers the answer. (Answer: unwritten rule that no black man could play in the major leagues.)

Distribute the timeline cards. If you have more than 16 students, you can work in pairs. One student can be the researcher and the other the recorder. The researcher can find the information, and the recorder can write it on the card.

Explain to students that all of the information for the timeline cards can be found in the article, "The Negro Leagues," except for the dates 1947, 1962, and 1971; the pages for these dates are listed on the reverse side of the timeline cards.

Ask students to complete their timeline cards. Allow ten minutes for this activity.

Circulate around the room to note students' progress and troubleshoot the lesson.

When students finish, ask them to share their cards with the class; begin with the earliest date and end with the last date on the timeline cards. As each student shares, build the timeline by posting the student's card on a bulletin board or on a wall in your classroom. When students finish presenting, your timeline will be complete.

Ask for a volunteer to summarize the lesson by explaining what he / she learned.

Evaluation
Students' timeline cards will enable you to evaluate students' performance.

Extension
Ask students to write a reflection about today's lesson. If students have never written a reflective piece, use the following sentence starters: Today I read about . . . I learned that . . . I would like to know more about . . .

Answers For Timeline Cards

1859
African Americans form their own leagues because they are not allowed to play in major league baseball.

1867
First Colored World Baseball Championship, Brooklyn Uniques vs. Philadelphia Excelsiors

1885
Bud Fowler is first black player to cross the minor league color line on Iowa's Western League Team, the Keokuk

1889
Cuban Giants, Midstates League featured players of all races

1908
First black players join teams in Cuba and the Dominican Republic and play side-by-side with Latinos and American Whites

1920
Rube Foster forms the Negro National League which lasted until 1931

1924
First Negro Leagues World Series

1933
A new Negro National League is formed

1937
A rival, the American Negro League is formed

1947 (page 41)
Jackie Robinson joins the Dodgers as a first baseman becoming the first African American in the Major League

1960
The Negro American League is disbanded

1962 (page 23)
Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame

1963
The last black All Star game was played

1964 - present
Baseball progresses toward equality

1971 (page 42)
Negro Leagues recognized by Baseball Hall of Fame

Lesson #2

Objective

Materials

Negro Leagues Baseball, baseball cards, markers or colored pencils or crayons, and graphic organizers for baseball cards

Procedure

Introduce the lesson by explaining that you will be learning about famous African American baseball players.

Distribute the baseball cards. Ask students what kind of information they see on the cards. Chart the students' responses on the board.

Introduce the activity by telling students that they are going to design baseball cards for famous African American baseball players.

Distribute the magazines.

Model an example for the students. (See attached answer key for baseball cards and select one to model.) Write the player's name that you select on the board and the page numbers where information about the player is found. List the following under the player's name: position(s), league(s), team(s), dates of career, batting average, honors, and why remembered. Ask students to refer to the appropriate pages in the magazine to find the information. Chart the information on the board as students find and volunteer the answers.

Assign a baseball player to each student. (See attached answer key for baseball cards.) If you have more than 14 students, you will have to duplicate players, or pair students. If students work in pairs, one student can locate the information and the other can write it on the graphic organizer.

List each player's name on the board along with the corresponding page numbers in the magazine where the information on each player is found.

Distribute the graphic organizers; ask students to locate information about their players in the magazine and write it in the appropriate spaces on the organizer. If the information for a particular item on the organizer is not given, instruct students to write "not given" on the organizer. Allow 10 - 15 minutes for this activity.

Circulate around the room to note students' progress and troubleshoot the activity.

When students finish, ask them to complete their baseball cards by drawing a picture of their player in the space provided on the graphic organizer. (Not all players' pictures are included in the magazine, so students can be creative and draw what they think their player looked like.)

When the cards are finished, ask for volunteers to share them with the class by reading them aloud and showing the pictures.

Post the cards in your classroom. You can post them above the timeline if you completed the previous lesson.

Evaluation

Students' baseball cards will enable you to evaluate their performance.

Extension

Ask students to complete another baseball card for current famous African American baseball players.

Answer Key for Baseball Cards

Oscar Charleston (pages 5, 8)
Position(s): Center field and First Base
League(s): Negro Leagues
Team(s): Indianapolis ABC'S and the Pittsburg Crawfords
Dates of Career: 1915 - 54
Batting Average: .434
Honors: 1976 Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? He led his league in home runs, triples, doubles and stolen bases

Josh Gibson (pages 4, 8)
Position(s): Catcher
League(s): Negro Leagues
Date of Career: 1930s
Batting Average: not given
Honors: 1972 Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? He was known for power hitting and was frequently called "The Black Babe Ruth."

Buck Leonard (pages 4, 8)
Position(s): Outfielder
League(s): Negro Leagues
Team(s): Homestead Grays
Dates of Career: 1930s and 40s
Batting Average: lifetime .328
Honors: 1972 Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? He was known as a dependable clutch hitter and called "The Black Lou Gehrig."

John Henry "Pop" Lloyd (pages 4, 5, 8)
Position(s): Shortstop
League(s): Negro Leagues
Team(s): not given
Date of Career: 1906 - 1932
Batting Average: .353
Honors: 1977 Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? In 1928 he batted an amazing .564; Babe Ruth called him the greatest player of all time.

Satchel Paige (pages 4, 40, 41, 42)
Position(s): Pitcher
League(s): Negro Leagues and Major Leagues
Team(s): Pittsburg Crawfords and Kansas City Monarchs; St Louis Browns and Cleveland Indians
Date of Career: 1930 - 65
Batting Average: not given
Honors: 1971 Honored as the first Negro Leagues Baseball Player to be inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? He is best remembered as a master showman, and the greatest pitcher of all time with a blazing fastball, laser-beam control, and his famous "hesitation pitch." He was also a master of folk wisdom; he said, "Don't look back, something might be gaining on you!"

Jackie Robinson (pages 20, 21, 22, 23)
Position(s): First Baseman, #42
League(s): Negro Leagues and Major Leagues
Team(s): Kansas City Monarchs, Dodger's Montreal Farm Team and Brooklyn Dodgers
Date of Career: 1944 - 1956
Batting Average: .311 with 137 home runs and 197 stolen bases
Honors: 1962 Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? He was the first African American recruited into the American League. All of baseball retired his number, "42," in 1998. He was the first black member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Hank Aaron (Pages 32, 33, 34, 35)
Position(s): not given
League(s): Negro Leagues and Major Leagues
Team(s): Indianapolis Clowns and the Atlanta Braves
Date of Career: 1954 - 1976
Batting Average: not given
Honors: Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? He is remembered as the "Home-run King" with 715 homeruns; he broke Babe Ruth's record. (He received death threats and had to have body guards.)

Jim Armstead (Pages 36, 37, 38)
Position(s): Pitcher, outfielder and manager
League(s): Negro Leagues
Team(s): Baltimore Elites, Philadelphia Stars, New Orleans Creoles, Cleveland Buckeyes, and the Indianapolis ABC'S
Date of Career: 1939 - 49
Honors: not remembered in history or in books, never a star
Why Remembered? He was a solid player for ten years in the Negro Leagues earning $450 / month as a semi-pro with the Philadelphia Stars. He left baseball to pursue a career in bricklaying. In 1949 when he quit, he was too old to be considered for the integrated Major Leagues. He is still living.

Monte Irvin (pages 4, 8)
Position(s): Outfielder
League: Negro Leagues and Major League
Team(s): Newark Eagles and New York Giants
Date of Career: 1930s and 40s
Batting Average: not given
Honors: 1973 Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? He won two Negro League batting titles; he lost his chance to break the color barrier while serving in World War II.

Wilbur "Bullet" Rogan (Pages 4, 7, and 8)
Position(s): Hard-hitting Outfielder
League(s): Negro Leagues
Team(s): Kansas City Monarchs
Date of Career: not given
Batting Average: twice batted .412
Honors: 1998 Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? He was a powerful cleanup hitter and posted best winning percentage in black baseball history. He was nicknamed "Bullet" because of his unhittable fastball. Bullet once struck out 17 batters while pitching a perfect game.

Andrew Rube Foster (Pages 3, 8)
Position(s): Pitcher and Owner / Manager
League(s): Negro Leagues
Team(s): Chicago American Giants
Date of Career: 1902 - 30
Batting Average: not given
Honors: 1981 Baseball Hall of Fame
Why Remembered? The Chicago American Giants was one of the greatest teams in Negro Baseball history. In 1902 they won 51 games against all levels of competition. Foster put together the Negro National League, so he is known as the "Father of the Negro Leagues." He defeated famous white Major Leaguer, Rube Waddell of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1902 and earned the nickname, "Rube."

John W. Bud Fowler (Pages 3, 6, and 8)
Position: Second Baseman
League(s): Negro Leagues and the white Minor Leagues
Team(s): Keokuk, Iowa's Western League
Batting Average: not given
Honors: none mentioned
Why Remembered? He was the first black professional player.

Moses Fleetwood (Page 6)
Position(s): Catcher
League(s): American Association
Team(s): Toledo
Date of Career: 1883
Batting Average: not given
Honors: none mentioned
Why Remembered? Moses was the first black player in the Major Leagues. His career was cut short by injuries. His brother, Weldy, also played.

Frank Grant (Page 7)
Position(s): Second Baseman
League(s): White Major Leagues and the International League
Team(s): Buffalo
Date of Career: 1886
Batting Average: .340
Honors: none mentioned
Why Remembered? Frank was "a great all around player, accurate thrower . . . and swift". He was the best black player in the white Major Leagues before 1900.

BASEBALL CARD GRAPHIC ORGANIZER




















Name


Position(s)


League(s)


Team(s)


Date of Career


Batting Average


Honors


Why Remembered?