e we are at Kinsley and Acorn Street.
Imagine in 1919, this was a huge field.
- What was this field used for back then?
- So this was the place where community could come and see fireworks and see boxing, soccer, and football.
(air whooshing) - And what about baseball?
- In the 1920s, this location was where you could see amateur and professional baseball events.
This was the location you could see Black teams playing against White teams.
And in 1931, this became the home field of the Providence Colored Giants, Rhode Island's first professional Black baseball team.
(gentle acoustic guitar begins) - Kinsley Park was built in the early 1920s.
The geographic significance really rests with an old trope in sports history which is, there's a lot of ballparks which are built on railroad property, large pieces of property which railroads no longer used, and they become ball fields.
(train chugging) Kinsley Park is probably synonymous with Rhode Island's featured minor league baseball team, "The Grays."
And really, the park is built with The Grays in mind.
And that's where you see (crowd cheering) incredible professional teams coming in and out.
Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig played there in an exhibition game.
Kinsley Park had always been an enclosed stadium, which was what made it so special.
Professional teams, or semi-professional teams, (crowd cheering) almost exclusively sought out stadiums where people had to pay to enter.
Daniel Whitehead, or Big Dan Whitehead, is oftentimes referred to as, "The Father of Black Baseball," in Rhode Island.
He's referred to that because in 1905 he establishes the original Providence Colored Giants.
In 1908, he incorporates the team, and it becomes Rhode Island's first moneymaking, African-American team.
Arthur "Daddy" Black comes to Rhode Island in the early 1880s from South Carolina.
He becomes involved in what was then called, "The Numbers."
This is as early as 1924.
The numbers racket was an illegal gambling scheme based on lottery numbers, and he's incredibly successful at that.
So that by the early 1930s, he is, "The Numbers King of Rhode Island."
So he has a significant amount of income.
And one of the things (music fades) that Arthur Black became involved in very early, in fact, as early as 1924, is supporting African American baseball teams.
(baseball bat striking ball) And then in 1931, (crowd cheering) full owner of the Providence Colored Giants.
Arthur Black, was very much interested in creating a professional team with professional players.
In 1931, there are players who were scrambling for contracts.
"The Professional Negro Leagues," as they were called back then, went under, because of the Great Depression and because of the death of Rube Foster, who had organized the league back in 1920.
Arthur "Daddy" Black is able to sign some of the most incredible Black baseball talent along the East Coast to play up in Providence, again, because he can promise them a weekly check.
And those payments, from what I gather, were pretty good.
And for the first time, really, Providence has a Black professional baseball team in '31.
Their home field is Kinsley and they pack Kinsley, and they showcase some of the best baseball talent, period, Black or White.
(crowd cheering) One of the most (down home music begins) talented players that Arthur Black was able to sign for the Providence Colored Giants was, "Oliver Marcell."
Marcell had established himself as the premier third baseman in Black baseball, to the point where in 2006 he was shortlisted for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
But one of the interesting (music fades) things about African American baseball in Rhode Island during this time is the way in which African Americans negotiated segregation or the racial barrier.
In baseball, (indistinct chatter) you see integration occurring much sooner (baseball bat striking ball) than you see it occurring in other walks of life.
(crowd cheering) The White teams were happy to have the Black team because the Black team was always a draw.
People came to see the incredible Black talent.
It also opened up a fan base to African American fans.
Folks would go to church and then they would come back from church, and they would go right to the game.
Sometimes, wouldn't even change out of their Sunday clothes.
It was a wonderful sort of social and cultural event for the community.
When we're talking about the 1920s, baseball and money sort of go hand-in-hand and integration and money go hand-in-hand.
So essentially, what happens in 1931 is that Daddy Black's professional team doesn't do as well as he had expected.
In fact, he has a major disappointment at the Polo Grounds in New York when his team doesn't do all that well against Bill Bojangles' team, "The Harlem Stars," which would later become, "The New York Black Yankees."
And Arthur Black walks away from that team in '31.
And Dan Whitehead comes in to take over the Providence Colored Giants in 1932.
Arthur Black was very much in favor of a contract in which players were paid regularly.
Daniel Whitehead had always agreed that the players should split the gate.
And when Daniel Whitehead informs the players that they're no longer getting a regular paycheck, as they did under Daddy Black, in fact, they're gonna have to split the gate, the players mutiny, they refuse to play.
And as a result of that, the team falls apart.
The fans want their money back.
For Black, the game was important, (somber music begins) but the game was a business opportunity.
But for Whitehead, that was his life.
Whitehead was a player.
Whitehead, back in 1905, shared time on first base or right field and very close to his players.
Very different sort of relationship than the business relationship that Black had.
So when the players mutiny in '32, Whitehead walks away from the game and dies a year later, pretty much broken hearted really, in a boarding house, penniless, separated from the game that I think he loved so much.
And in 1932, prohibition is coming to an end and money streams for organized crime are drying up.
(glass bottles clinking) And as a result of that, people are looking to take over territories and Black is murdered (gunfire) for his territory.
(siren wailing) Whitehead passes, Daddy Black is murdered.
And Kinsley Park, this sacred ground is torn down and it all ends by the early 1930s.
(baseball bat striking ball) (crowd cheering) Sports is oftentimes an avenue, which can not just mirror what's going on in the broader society, but can also change what's going on in the broader society.
Rhode Island does experience integration, at least in baseball, a lot sooner or a lot quicker than its neighboring states.
Baseball has always been a local game, enjoyed by local fans as much as integration is needed and desired and fought for.
It's bittersweet, because all Black baseball games on a Sunday afternoon had meant so much to the community.
That celebratory event and the men who lived in those communities and played that local game who no longer existed, (crowd cheering) but Kinsley Park was the place where they showcased their talent.
(baseball bat striking ball) - That's our broadcast this evening.