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The Negro Leagues Black History and Blacks in U.S. History

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The Negro Leagues
Print The Negro Leagues Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 8 to 12
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	9.34

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		mid-1800s, best, historic, all-black, beginning, pastime, catcher, pitchers, occasion, unknown, eventually, founded, gain, similar, opportunity, popularity
	content words:		Civil War, Cuban Giants, New York, Rube Foster, Negro National League, Eastern Colored League, Negro American League, National League, American League, Negro Leagues

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The Negro Leagues By Sharon Fabian

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¹     Games that were similar to baseball were played in America as early as colonial times, but it wasn't until the mid-1800s that baseball became the sport we know today. Baseball began to really gain in popularity after the Civil War. At the same time that baseball was becoming America's pastime, it was also becoming more segregated.
 
²     By the 1870s, black athletes were excluded from major baseball clubs, but many black pitchers, catchers, outfielders, and infielders wanted to keep playing the game that they loved. They found their opportunity in all-black teams that were forming across the country.
 
³     The Cuban Giants, who, by the way, were not from Cuba, was one of those teams. Formed in 1885, at first, they played against white teams wherever they could find a game, but this became more and more difficult. At the same time, other black teams were also forming, and soon a network of black baseball teams developed. Teams from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Norfolk, and other eastern cities met in competition. Eventually, there would be as many as 200 African-American baseball teams.

Paragraphs 4 to 9:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable

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