One Year: 1955 | 1. The Team Nobody Would Play

Slow Burn

Slate Podcasts

News, Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Politics

4.6 • 25.1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Cannon Street All-Stars dreamed of playing in the 1955 Little League World Series. Their biggest obstacle didn’t come on the field. In the year that Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a public bus, these Black 12-year-olds became unlikely civil rights pioneers—and faced the wrath of a white society that wasn’t ready to change. Josh Levin is One Year’s editorial director. One Year’s senior producer is Evan Chung. This episode was produced by Kelly Jones and Evan Chung, with additional production by Sophie Summergrad. It was edited by Joel Meyer and Derek John, Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. Join Slate Plus to get the first three episodes of One Year: 1955 right away—and a bonus 1955 story at the end of the season. Slate Plus members also get to listen to all Slate podcasts without any ads. Sign up now to support One Year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This podcast contains language that some listeners might find offensive.
0:07.0	I was born in Charleston, South Carolina. I am what you call a bigna.
0:13.2	Bigna me and you live here all your life.
0:17.2	Lyray major grew up in the 1940s and 50s.
0:20.8	He lived in downtown Charleston with his parents and two sisters, but everyone on his street was pretty much like family.
0:28.0	You didn't know you were poor because if you had grits, everybody else in the neighborhood had grits.
0:35.0	The people in Leroy's neighborhood also shared something else,
0:40.0	a love of baseball and the black players starring in the major leagues.
0:44.4	I was a Brooklyn Dodger fan.
0:47.0	It's a Jackie Robinson, hit that ball.
0:51.0	It went zoom and crossed the left field wall. Yeah boy.
0:56.0	Going into the 1955 season, the Yankees and Red Sox had never featured a single black player. The Dodgers were different. By that
1:05.4	point they could roll out a majority black lineup. And in 55 it looked like they
1:10.8	might finally win it all.
1:12.0	Jackie Robinson steps in against Ford.
1:15.0	Here comes the relay.
1:19.0	Jackie slides, he's safe.
1:21.0	I mean, you want to be like Jackie. You want to be like Campanelli. You want to be like Don Newcombe.
1:29.6	John Rivers grew up in Charleston too. It was an inspiration to see professional black
1:37.5	players on the field and I actually romanticized the idea that I could go to the Major Lees.
1:47.0	In the summer of 1955, it seemed like John and Leroy might be on their way.
1:54.0	We're in the Susquehanna Valley, and eight Little League teams have arrived to play for the world
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Slate Podcasts, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Slate Podcasts and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.