NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Baseball pioneer Buck O‘Neil will speak about the legacy of the Negro Leagues during a lecture at Vanderbilt University on Monday, Feb. 7, as part of Vanderbilt‘s commemoration of Black History Month.
O‘Neil will speak at 7 p.m. in Room 103 of Wilson Hall on the Vanderbilt campus. O‘Neil will be available to sign copies of his book, I Was Right on Time, from 5:45 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt.
The lecture and reception are free and open to the public. Copies of O‘Neil‘s book will be available for purchase. The event is sponsored by the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University.
O‘Neil, who was featured prominently in Baseball — A Film by Ken Burns, was a first baseman and manager in the Negro Leagues from 1937 to 1955, playing with and against legendary players including Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. In 1962, he became the first black coach in Major League Baseball when he was hired by the Chicago Cubs. He is chairman of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City.
“I think Buck O‘Neil is a national treasure,” said Frank Dobson, director of the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt University. “He represents a legacy that is as important to the race struggles in America as anything in history. At a time when black players were denied the opportunity to play in the major leagues, he and the other Negro Leagues players made a statement every day about equality, and they did it for the love of the game.”
O‘Neil‘s lecture is one of many events celebrating Black History Month at Vanderbilt, including free films, a luncheon speaker series, and a lecture by Angela Davis. For a lineup of Black History Month events at Vanderbilt, go to http://www.vanderbilt.edu/news/releases?id=16944 on the Internet.
Media contact: Jim Patterson, (615) 322-NEWS
Jim.patterson@vanderbilt.edu