Black History - Birmingham Black Barons

In respects to our ancestors who fought through unjust times and continued to do what was said to be impossible we shadow the mighty Birmingham Black Barons as our theme for #shepherdszn2k17.

Birmingham, Al is known today for so many virtues the possibly exceed our ancestor's wildest imagination. We have one of the biggest medical international medical facilities in the country, University of Alabama Birmingham. We have a big, flourishing city that is competing against racism and winning, and lastly we have the Birmingham Barons baseball team.

'Drawing largely from a successful American Cast Iron Pipe Company Industrial League team, the Black Barons were organized in 1920 for the inaugural season of Rube Foster's Negro Southern League, which operated mainly as a minor league. They played in that league for three years before making the leap to the larger Negro National League, which operated as a major league. They were unable to keep their position due to irregularities with the team finances and returned to the Southern League for three more years. Their return to the National League in 1927 was marked by the emergence of star pitcher Satchel Paige, who led the Black Barons to the second half pennant. They lost the Negro National League title to the Chicago American Giants in four straight games.'(BirminghamProSports.com

This team is a symbol of hope and perseverance in our city for us. However, many forget the presence and a lot of the kids the we grew up with have little to no care about the sport or the grind that was in place over 50+ years ago to accomplish sustaining a team here in our city. Our city is known for water hoses and dogs being used on our innocent men and women, including Dr. Martin Luther King JR. Our city also is known for a horrible bombing of the 16th street church that killed those 4 girls. However, we want to bring a fresh notion of pride to our city for our urban youth to have something more positive and heroic to look up to. The Southern League in baseball was a life saver for many and gave people hope that they could do and be whatever they want to be.

Our goals are to commit and revitalize a dying pride in our city that could possibly even bring Michael Jordan back to our city. To get banners flown about Black Shepherd and to make performing in Region Field a big thing in homage to our history.