Wendell Smith And Billy Rowe

Wendell Smith, a sports columnist, and Billy Rowe, a photographer, worked for the Pittsburgh Courier, once the country’s most widely circulated Black newspapers, with a national circulation of almost 200,000. The Courier sought to empower African Americans economically and politically. A native of Detroit, Michigan, Smith dedicated himself to doing “something on behalf of the Negro ballplayers” after, as a young winning pitcher, he was not considered by a major league scout while the losing pitcher was signed because Major League Baseball barred Black players. He became a crusading Black press journalist, known as the man who recommended Jackie Robinson to Branch Rickey. For 40 years, he fought to raise awareness about the conditions under which Black players were forced to play, suffering embarrassment, humiliation, and indignities during six weeks of spring training in Florida. Branch Rickey recruited both Smith and Rowe to accompany Jackie Robinson throughout his first spring training. Robinson later hired Smith to write his autobiography, Jackie Robinson, My Own Story, published in 1948.

Daytona Beach, Florida · United States