Book Launch: Play Harder: The Triumph of Black Baseball in America
Written and edited by Gerald Early, the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters at Washington University in St. Louis, in conjunction with the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Play Harder examines how Black Americans have shaped baseball from its emergence after the Civil War to the Negro Leagues and Jackie Robinson’s breaking of the color barrier, up to today’s game.
Emerging from Early’s work on the Hall of Fame exhibit “The Souls of the Game: Voices of Black Baseball,” which opened on May 25th in Cooperstown, NY, Play Harder contains Early’s words as well as contributions from an All-Star lineup of Black baseball writers, scholars, and journalists from across the nation. For this panel discussion and celebration, Early will be joined by three such contributors: Courtney M. Cox, Amira Rose Davis, and Shakeia Taylor.
The event is generously supported by the Center for Race, Ethnicity, and Equity, the Center for the Humanities, and the Department of English.
We hope you’ll join us for what promises to be an invigorating event!
Professor Gerald Early is an award-winning essayist, author, and editor. He has served as a commentator for NPR and as a consultant for multiple documentaries with Ken Burns.
Gerald Early is the Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters in the African and African American Studies Department at Washington University in St. Louis, where he has taught since 1982.
He was most recently the interim director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Equity (2022-2023). He was previously the chair of the African and African American Studies Department (2014-2021). He is also the executive editor of The Common Reader, Washington University’s interdisciplinary journal published under the auspices of the Provost’s office.
Dr. Courtney M. Cox is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Indigenous, Race, and Ethnic Studies (IRES) at the University of Oregon. Her research examines issues related to identity, technology, and labor through sport and wine. Her forthcoming book, Double Crossover: Gender, Media, and Politics in Global Basketball, considers how Black women and non-binary athletes maneuver through the global sports-media complex. She is also co-director (with Dr. Perry B. Johnson) of The Sound of Victory, a multi-platform digital humanities project located at the intersection of music, sound, and sport. She previously worked for ESPN, Longhorn Network, NPR-affiliate KPCC, and the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.
Amira Rose Davis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas-Austin where she specializes in 20th Century American History with an emphasis on race, gender, sports, and politics. Recently named a Mellon Emerging Faculty Leader by the Institute for Citizens and Scholars, she finishing up her book, “Can’t Eat a Medal”: The Lives and Labors of Black Women Athletes in the Age of Jim Crow (UNC Press). Her work has appeared in scholarly journals including the Radical History Review and the Journal of African American History as well as popular outlets such as The Washington Post and Slate. Davis also provides sports commentary for NPR, ESPN, and BBC and serves on the advisory board of the Jackie Robinson Museum and the Arthur Ashe Legacy Foundation. Davis is also the co-author of the children's book, Go Wilma, Go! (Bloomsbury Press), the co-host of the Feminist sports podcast, Burn it All Down and the host of Season 3 of American Prodigies: The Rise of Black Girls in Gymnastics.
Shakeia Taylor is an award-winning writer at the Chicago Tribune whose work focuses on the intersection of sports and culture. Prior to joining the Tribune in 2022, Taylor was a freelance writer with features in Baseball Prospectus, SB Nation, Fangraphs, Victory Journal, MLB.com, and several other publications. She has appeared on podcasts and radio shows in the U.S. and Canada, and in ESPN’s “The Captain” and the negro leagues documentary “The League.”
The rsvp deadline for this event has passed, please contact Alison Eigel Zade (ealison@wustl.edu) with questions.