Before Jack Robinson, Black professional baseball players were not allowed to play on Major League Baseball teams. Instead, they played on teams in the Negro baseball leagues. Many talented baseball players were denied the opportunity to play in Major League Baseball. Still, they competed in baseball stadiums around the country. People loved to watch them play.
Hinchliffe Stadium in Patterson, New Jersey, was the home for many sporting events and concerts. It was the home field for three Negro baseball leagues teams. However, as baseball integrated [brought people from different races together], many teams in the Negro leagues shut down. Their stadiums were demolished. Hinchliffe Stadium slowly fell into disrepair and stopped operating in 1996.
After being abandoned for decades, the stadium was renovated (restored). It cost $100 million, but the stadium is open once again. It is home to concerts, sporting events, and the minor league baseball team, the New Jersey Jackals. It also features a museum that tells the story of the Negro baseball leagues, and the stadium’s importance to New Jersey history.
Hinchliffe Stadium is part of the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail. It highlights important sites of Black heritage and resilience in New Jersey’s history. Other sites include the locations of early free Black communities. Historic Black churches are honored. Important protests against injustice are remembered. The Count Basie Center for the Performing Arts honors the legacy of one of the country’s greatest musicians. Today, there are 32 sites on the New Jersey Black Heritage trail. There will be many more sites named in years to come.
New Jersey’s Black Heritage Trail is just the latest of hundreds of Black Heritage Trails throughout the country. The National Parks Service manages a Black Heritage Trail in Boston, MA. This is part of an effort in the country for communities to tell the full story of their history.
What Do You Think? How does your community honor its heritage?
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