Illustration of dugout with baseball players
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Kadir Nelson, Illustration for We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). © 2008 Kadir Nelson.

We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball

February 7 - June 10, 2012
East Gallery

On view are thirty-three paintings and thirteen sketches from the book We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball (2008) by award-winning artist and author Kadir Nelson. Nelson spent seven years researching, writing, and painting the images for this publication, which presented the story of the Negro Leagues, the gifted athletes and unsung heroes who overcame segregation and low pay to do the one thing they loved more than anything else: to play ball.

Support for this exhibition was generously provided by Disney Publishing Worldwide.

Featured Artists

Headshot of Kadir Nelson holding brushes

Kadir Nelson

Kadir Nelson is an award-winning author and artist based in Los Angeles, CA. His picture books and original oil paintings speak to contemporary culture and heroic subjects of African American history. Nelson has received the Caldecott Medal, two Caldecott Honors, numerous Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards, and a New York Times best illustrated book of the year citation. Photo by George DeLoache.
Artist website