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Abstract
The integration of Major League Baseball by Jackie Robinson in April 1947 is often regarded as a seminal moment in American history. Robinson and the structure of organized black professional baseball have each obtained larger than life statures within American culture. However, analyzing every front-page story published in The Pittsburgh Courier from 1945 to 1950 suggests that the full impact of Robinson’s integration of professional baseball and the fall of the Negro Leagues has only been realized in the ensuing decades. While Robinson appeared on front-page stories in the Courier during this time, his accomplishments were often overshadowed by other news events relevant to the black community, such as lynchings and educational inequalities. Similarly, the Negro Leagues received minimal coverage in the front page of the Courier, indicating that it might not have been as much of a community pillar as it is believed to have been by many scholars.