In Brushing Back Jim Crow: The Integration of Minor-League Baseball in the American South, Bruce Adelson provides us with a detailed historical record of the integration of the minor leagues in the southern US during the 1950s and early 1960s. Bruce writes as an impartial observer very well, letting the people who experienced the drama tell the story. His book is full of first person narratives as black and Hispanic ballplayers famous and fleeting tell their stories of breaking the color barrier in a hostile environment. He also quotes numerous newspaper article from the era to give us a feel for how society reacted to something many never saw before, blacks and white working together as equals.

The book is amazingly positive. Adelson, time after time notes how the economic benefits of team integration brought owners and league officials over to that side of the aisle. In 1955, in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education, Georgia tried to ban interracial sports. The president of the Georgia State League fought the legislation, Bill Estroff fought the legislation and won, something different for the south.

And that, in a nutshell, is the thesis of the book. Minority ballplayers quietly set the stage for the civil rights victories of the 1950s and 1960s. These players demonstrated that blacks and whites could work and play together, so that people in the south started to have doubts about their ingrained beliefs. At a time of declining attendance, black fans brought economic clout to change the way they were treated at ballparks. Adelson makes a strong case that the integration of baseball was central to the overall integration of the south. If you're interested in the history of baseball, or the history of the civil rights movement, this book is an invaluable resource.