The integration of Little Rock Central High School was a signature moment not just in Arkansas, but in the Civil Rights movement nationwide. On September 4, 1957, after initially being denied entry, nine Black students were escorted into Central High School by the National Guard under the orders of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, ending the long-standing racial segregation of the school after it had been deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1954. The historic moment is commemorated by a National Park Service across from the high school, which is still a functioning school today.
The Arkansas Travelers, Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, will honor the “Little Rock Nine” with an alternate identity that they will wear for three games this summer. The team will play as the Little Rock Nine, with uniforms that pay tribute to Black baseball of the era and a series of events that honor the nine Black students. The alternate brand is part of Minor League Baseball’s larger “The Nine” program, named for the uniform number Jackie Robinson wore during his one season in the minors with the Montreal Royals, which honors the contributions of African-Americans in baseball.
“When Major League Baseball announced this initiative called The Nine… we were all just looking each other like, we literally have the Little Rock Nine,” said Travelers General Manager Sophie Ozier. “It was just such a perfect fit across the board. The program is called The Nine, we have nine players on a baseball field, the Little Rock Nine… it just made absolute sense for us to do it.”
The brand, created by the Little Rock-based firm Eric Rob & Isaac, combines the aesthetics of Negro Leagues baseball with the history of the team, which dates back to 1901. The interlocking LR logo, which subtly incorporates the number 9, reflects one used by the Little Rock Travelers, predecessors to the Arkansas Travelers, who debuted in 1963.
“When we first started out, it was like, okay, this happened in 1957, it affects the Black community, what did a Negro League team look like in that era,” said Director of Marketing Bradley Field. “It’s kind of a throwback for that purpose—it’s literally the logo we used in that time, but made to fit the Little Rock Nine.”
The brand is based on text rather than imagery, with the typography representing styles popular in the Negro Leagues era.
“It’s so important and it’s such a big part of our history that you want to make sure that you do it right,” Ozier said. “The cursive font we noticed was used in a lot of Negro Leagues jerseys, as well as the block. We couldn’t really decide between wanting to go with the block and the cursive, so we were like what if we just did both? It created this very iconic and classic look.”
In preparation for the weekend of games, the team has been working with historically black colleges and universities, the historic site operated by the National Park Service, and of course members of the Little Rock Nine themselves. In conversations with Carlotta Walls Lanier, the youngest member of the Little Rock Nine, Ozier was delighted to learn of a direct connection to baseball—Lanier’s grandfather played in the Negro Leagues and in fact was an All Star in the 1920s.
“When I began high school back in the fall of 1957 – entering Central High School accompanied by over a thousand members of the 101st Airborne – I never could have anticipated or even imagined what being one of the Nine would come to mean for the rest of my life,” LaNier said in a statement released by the team. “And here we are, 68 years later, and our team of nine is being celebrated by another team of nine, the Arkansas Travelers, the hometown team! This is another unexpected honor that will be exciting to see and participate in.”
The weekend of Little Rock Nine games August 21–23 will commemorate hometown heroes whose bravery had an impact felt around the world and to this day. Details of the activities that will take place during the games will be announced throughout the season. We do know already that game-worn jerseys will be available in an online auction during the weekend with proceeds going to the Little Rock Nine Foundation, benefitting The Clinton School of Public Service.
“It’s crazy to think about, they were 15- to 17-year-olds that were going to school, and obviously all nine of them went on to have these amazing careers, and be Civil Rights activists in their own right,” Ozier said. “It’s important to recognize how far we’ve come, but how much further we need to go, and hopefully we are accomplishing that in celebrating this.”
The timing of this announcement is no accident. The team debuted the Little Rock Nine brand on Daisy Gatson Bates Day, which celebrates a noted Arkansas Civil Rights activist.
