Negro League Baseball and African American Sports Exhibitions
"We are drowning in information     
...but starving for knowledge."
- Larry Lester
 
 
Site Tools    
print Printer Friendly Version
 
 

NoirTech Research has been the Designer, Provider and/or Consultant of several nationally touring exhibits on the Negro Baseball Leagues, African American Heritage Stamps, along with showcases of Black Americans on coins & currency.

Exhibits include:

undefinedPride and Passion: The African-American Baseball Experience:  Lester served as text editor and fact checker. This exhibit is owned by the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum.

Beginning in the late 19th century, African American baseball was the seedbed for talented players who would eventually pave the way to an integrated sport.  Dozens of barnstorming black teams were playing around the country by the 1920, the founding year of the Negro National League.  

By examining the challenges faced by African-American players as they formed their own leagues and later integrated the Major Leagues in the mid-20th century, Pride & Passion illustrates how these milestones in baseball were not individual points of significance in themselves, but part of an ongoing process in American society. 

SEE THE VIDEO:

The exhibit is currently touring more than 50 libraries across the country, through 2012, sponsored by the American Library Association.  To see a brief presentation by Lester at the Oak Park Public Library (outside of Chicago) in May of 2009, click the YouTube link below.

 

 

Discover Greatness!:

An Illustrated History of the Negro Baseball Leagues: A historical overview of Negro League baseball, currently featured each year at Major League’s baseball All-Star FanFest, since 1993. The exhibit includes nearly 90 photographs, replica jerseys, posters and lockers. Owned by Major League Baseball Properties.

 

 Sections include:

  • Pre-1900: The Beginnings of Black Baseball

  • 1901-1919: The Great Independents

  • 1920-1931: A League of Their Own

  • 1932-1946: Heyday

  • 1947: The Color Line Falls

 

 

 

 

Triumph Over Adversity: Showcasing Negro League memorabilia of the country’s largest private collection. Displayed at the Dallas’ African American Museum in Fair Park. This exhibit includes authentic uniforms & jackets, broadsides, autographed memorabilia and vintage photographs. Debut in 1999 and became their longest running exhibit in history. Artifacts owned by the Center for Negro League Baseball Research.

 

Stamps of Recognition: An 80-panel exhibit of more than 60 prominent Jazz greats, abolitionists, writers, historians, actors and entertainers using stamps, currency and coins as mediums. The exhibit communicates the proud history of African Americans and their cultural contributions, while increasing the awareness of the social and historical relevance in the shaping of America. Toured nationally for three years. Designed by Smith-Kramer Fine Arts and owned by NoirTech Research, Inc.

This exhibit is currently retired and housed in the Lester Archives.

 

The National Pastime in Black and White: The Negro Baseball Leagues, 1867-1955: A pictorial history of black baseball. Toured nationally for four years, 2003 to 2006. Lester provided more than 60 photographs and authentic memorabilia, along with serving as text editor & fact checker. Designed and promoted by Exhibits USA. 

This exhibit has been sold to the Minnesota African American Museum & Cultural Center (www.MAAMcc.org) at 1730 3rd Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55404

Currency of Change: The African American Contribution

Currency and coins, mediums of exchange, can represent the social barometer and political climate of its country.  Currency and coinage are also visual mediums that reflect the identiy of that country's people, while celebrating significant events of its progessive growth.

 

 

This is a 25-panel overview of African Americans on monetary instruments issued by the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Mint, including such notables as; Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Azie Taylor Morton, Louie Armstrong, Marian Anderson, Blanche K. Bruce, and other distinguished personalities.

Developed and owned by NoirTech Research, Inc.

Tour dates are currenty available.  Contact us at:  LarryLester42@gmail.com or call 816.589.7940

To view sample images of more posters in the series see our Gallery.

Other Exhibits:

  • Developed original static exhibits at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (1990-1994).
  • Text writer for the Negro Leagues exhibit for the Chicago White Sox, 1992.
  • Developed and designed a Homestead Grays & Pittsburgh Crawfords exhibit for the Pittsburgh Pirates, 1996.
  • Provided photographs and historical information on the Philadelphia Stars for the Philadelphia Phillies' Citizens Bank Park, 2004.
  • Served as consultant with ESA Designs in development of traveling exhibit for the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, “Discover Greatness” which toured nationally from 1993 to 1999.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Give me a museum and I’ll fill it.” 

- Pablo Picasso