First Thursday Films: The League
Partners: MSP Film & MN Historical Society
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The League celebrates the dynamic journey of Negro League baseball’s triumphs and challenges through the first half of the twentieth century.
The story is told through previously unearthed archival footage and never-before-seen interviews with legendary players like Satchel Paige and Buck O’Neil – whose early careers paved the way for the Jackie Robinson era – as well as celebrated Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Hank Aaron who started out in the Negro Leagues. From entrepreneurial titans Cumberland Posey and Gus Greenlee, whose intense rivalry fueled the rise of two of the best baseball teams ever to play the game, to Effa Manley, the activist owner of the Newark Eagles and the only woman ever admitted to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, The League explores Black baseball as an economic and social pillar of Black communities and a stage for some of the greatest athletes to ever play the game, while also examining the unintended consequences of integration.
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- Craig Laurence Rice
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- Kevin D. West
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI), executive produced by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson (Oscar-winning Summer of Soul), Tariq Trotter (Descendant), and produced by RadicalMedia,
Come for the movie. Stay for the conversation.
Director Sam Pollard leads the conversation after the film, with MSP Film Programmer Craig Laurence Rice.
Be @ the movies! Noteworthy films with good conversation that follows each screening on the first Thursday of every month. The series is presented by MSP Film, the Capri, and the Minnesota Historical Society