MEDIA ADVISORY: Baseball and race in Canada - The case of Jackie Robinson

Baseball historian John H. Thompson to give free public lecture

It has been 65 years since Jackie Robinson made history by breaking baseball's infamous and seemingly impenetrable colour barrier when he joined the Montreal Royals. In a timely visit to the city where baseball history was made, Duke University Professor of History and baseball historian John H. Thompson will present a free public lecture on Robinson’s legacy, baseball and race in Canada.

WHO: Duke University Professor of History John H. Thompson

WHAT: Free public lecture - Baseball and race in Canada: The case of Jackie Robinson

WHEN: Wednesday, March 9, 3 p.m.

WHERE: McGill University, Leacock Building, 855 Sherbrooke St. W., Room 232

Thompson, a Winnipeg-born former McGill professor is a 19th and 20th Century North American History specialist. He is currently working on a book about Enos Slaughter (1916-2002), a Hall of Fame baseball player from North Carolina. The project aims to use Slaughter’s life in baseball to explore larger questions about gender, race, class and celebrity in America. Thompson also created and teaches: Baseball in Global Perspective, a course that uses the history of the 19th and 20th Century  migration  of baseball  from  North America to  Asia and Latin America as a way to approach transnational and comparative history.

Prof. Thompson will be available for interviews prior to his lecture on Wednesday.