# We Are the Ship

**Author:** Kadir Nelson
**Grade range:** Grades K–5
**First published:** 2008
**Page count:** 100
**Genre:** Picture Book
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/we-are-the-ship-the-story-of-negro-league-baseball
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

“We are the ship; all else the sea.”—Rube Foster, founder of the Negro National League The story of Negro League baseball is the story of gifted athletes and determined owners; of racial discrimination and international sportsmanship; of fortunes won and lost; of triumphs and defeats on and off the field. It is a perfect mirror for the social and political history of black America in the first half of the twentieth century. But most of all, the story of the Negro Leagues is about hundreds of unsung heroes who overcame segregation, hatred, terrible conditions, and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else in the world: play ball. Using an “Everyman” player as his narrator, Kadir Nelson tells the story of Negro League baseball from its beginnings in the 1920s through its

## Where this book is assigned

### Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award

- **recommended** · Kindergarten grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 1st grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 2nd grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 3rd grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 4th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2009 Honor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)

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