In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January 19), the birthday of Jackie Robinson (January 31), and Black History Month (February), Rare Books & Special Collections highlights examples from its collection of 11 souvenir fan pennants from the Negro Baseball Leagues. 

The colorful collectible felt souvenir pennants represent leading Black baseball teams of the 1930s and 1940s, and feature large, screen-printed graphics of African American baseball players in action.

During the age of segregation in the first half of the twentieth century, white major league and minor league professional baseball teams drew a strict color line and refused to field African American players. Shut out by the best white teams, African Americans started their own professional leagues — broadly known as the “Negro Leagues” — that developed into central institutions of the segregated African American communities. Talented African American teams defied discrimination and prejudice to demonstrate the high quality of Black baseball and become an important point of pride for their largely African American fans.

Colorful souvenir pennants were one indication of the broad support that top Negro Leagues teams enjoyed. Marketed to fans and spectators, the felt pennants featured large graphics of African American baseball game action. At the time, most white manufacturers and designers ignored African American subjects and did not develop products for African American consumers. Black designers responded by creating these souvenirs with prominent images of African American baseball players, allowing fans to collect and display positive representations of their favorite Negro Leagues teams.

The pennants on display carry no indications about their manufacturer, and subsequent research has not revealed additional information about the companies that produced these souvenirs. But fan pennants are tangible evidence of the enduring popularity of Negro Leagues baseball during the age of segregation. Souvenir pennants are also a testament to the significance of Black institutions—from African American baseball teams to African American design companies—in building and uplifting the African American community.

This exhibit is curated by Gregory Bond, curator of the Joyce Sports Research Collection. This and other exhibits within the Hesburgh Libraries are generously supported by the McBrien Special Collections Endowment._

All exhibits are free and open to the public during business hours.