The Washington Tribune

Legion Tourney Called "Joke" as Barring of Negro is Reported
Assistant NAACP Secretary Writes Scathing Letter to American Legion Officials; Permission of Banned Team to Play in Finals Requested
NEW YORK-Adjutant Frank Samuels, American Legion, Indianapolis, Ind., was told today that the "national American Legion tournament becomes a joke" if the Springfield, Mass. baseball team is penalized because its pitcher and batting star, Ernest Taliaferro, is a Negro.
The letter signed by Roy Wilkins, assistant secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, pointed out that the Springfield Legion baseball team was forced last week to withdraw from the sectional tournament at Gastonia, N.C., because of threats of violence and that legion teams from Cumberland, Md. and Tampa, Fla. had refused to play with it because of the presence of the Negro. Mr. Wilkins questioned the legality of the play-off at Gastonia and requested that the Springfield nine be permitted to play in the American Legion finals at Chicago in place of the Cumberland, Md. team which has been designated for that honor.
"It seems to us," the letter continues, "that if the American Legion had been absolutely fair in this matter, it would have insisted on all teams meeting the Springfield nine or else defaulting ... If the Southern states will not permit colored legionaires to play on their teams and against white players in the South, that is one matter; but when they seek to dictate to the other three-fourths of the country on who shall play on these teams, then the idea of it being a national American Legion tournament becomes a joke."
A telegram from the Springfield Branch of the Association also protested to Adjutant Samuels against the discrimination.