Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso, ill. NY: Hyperion Book, 2007 ISBN-10: 0786839007, Q5/5P.

            A powerful story about the infamous Satchel Paige who shaped baseball as we know it and entertained the world for generations. Drawings are done in black, white and tan with great depiction of motion and emotions of characters.

-Christina Gendron, 8/02/09

 

Satchel Paige Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso. New York: Hyperion 2007.

ISBN: 9780786839001

A fictional African-American sharecropper, turns to Negro League baseball to support his family, narrates the story of Satchel Page, the baseball pitcher who helps to strike out Jim Crow laws.

Media: Pen and brush mechanical color added.

5Q/5P

Curriculum Connection

8^th-11^th Social Science Analysis Skills Historical Research, Evidence, and Point of View.

Theme  The effects of long term segregation of the psyche of African Americans in the United States. Although the book is about a growing pride within the black community about the prowess of Satchel Paige, the theme is deeper and reoccurring through out the book. When the teams go up against all white teams and win the group of the suppressed are ecstatic. In the end they defeat racism though perseverance and the changing of United States citizens attitudes to segregation. The growing pride at the end of the book is about a father having hope for his son and seeing a brighter future when the bonds of segregation and discrimination are lifted. How do small men get so large who made it so? (Sturm 2007).

• use of simile through the text and/or through the illustrations.

Looks like an aspirin tablet streaking across the plate (Sturm 2007). Satchel Paige Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm.

 

D. Guhl Summer 2009

Satchel Paige Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso. New York: Hyperion 2007.

ISBN: 9780786839001

A fictional African-American sharecropper, turns to Negro League baseball to support his family, narrates the story of Satchel Page, the baseball pitcher who helps to strike out Jim Crow laws.

Media: Pen and brush mechanical color added.

5Q/5P

Curriculum Connection

8^th-11^th Social Science Analysis Skills Historical Research, Evidence, and Point of View.

Theme  The effects of long term segregation of the psyche of African Americans in the United States. Although the book is about a growing pride within the black community about the prowess of Satchel Paige, the theme is deeper and reoccurring through out the book. When the teams go up against all white teams and win the group of the suppressed are ecstatic. In the end they defeat racism though perseverance and the changing of United States citizens attitudes to segregation. The growing pride at the end of the book is about a father having hope for his son and seeing a brighter future when the bonds of segregation and discrimination are lifted. How do small men get so large who made it so? (Sturm 2007).

• use of simile through the text and/or through the illustrations.

Looks like an aspirin tablet streaking across the plate (Sturm 2007). Satchel Paige Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm.

 

D. Guhl Summer 2009

 

 Satchel Paige: striking out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso. New York: Hyperion, 2007.

            ISBN: 9780786839018

            Annotation: This is the biography of Satchel Paige a great player in the Negro league of baseball. It show what a great character he was and how he helped get the African American players get notices by the white team owners and players as well as fans.

            Media: pen and ink

            Rating: 5Q/5P

            Subject: African-American History, Biography, Baseball. Grade 5-7

 

Lesson Plan

Goal

To teach students about Leroy “Satchel” Paige and the Negro league.

Objectives

 

 

-         To see the effects of segregation.

-         To learn about this episode in American history.

-         To be exposed to a non-fiction graphic novel.

-         To learn about the life of Satchel Paige

-         To practice baseball

Lesson

1.      Read the graphic novel. Discuss the story with students. Talk about the characters in the story.

2.      Play 2 baseball games, one as if it was the time of Satchel Paige and other as our present time

3.      Have students make a short research paper on Satchel Paige

Assessment

      -     During the discussion make sure every student participates and let them run the discussion to see if the students understood the story.

-         Set a minimum and some specifications for the research paper.

-         The baseball games will be to have fun but when they are playing the segregated game explain to them how this affected the players.

Armando Rivera 7-24-09

 

 

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso.  New York: Hyperion, 2007.

 

Summary: A former baseball player in a black league recalls his encounters with Satchel Paige, a real-life legendary player who did not let racism hold him back from achieving greatness.  

 

Rating: 5Q, 4P

 

ISBN: 0786839015

 

Medium: Pen/ink (black/white/green)

 

Curricular Connections: 

 

• Excellent for English and History curriculum 
• Themes: racism, Southern poverty, sharecropping, baseball, sports heroes, 1920s/1940s

 

Age Group: Middle/High School

 

Potential Obstacles: Use of racial epithets (though used effectively to convey  racism by white players toward black players)

 

 

E.K. 7/1/09 

 

 

 

APA Citation	Sturm, J and Tommaso, R. (2007). Satchel Paige: Striking out Jim Crow. New York: Hyperion.
ISBN	978-078683901-8	Rating	5Q/5P	Top 10	no
Media	Pen and brush		Grades/Subject	7-12; history, civics
Annotation	Satchel Paige was the highest paid baseball player, black or white. His story is transposed with that of a young man who remains in the south as a sharecropper.
Element Illustration
Rhythm	The juxtaposition of Emmett’s lolling Southern dialect with the sharp staccato rhythm of the newspaper reporting highlights Sturm’s control of rhythm in storytelling.