Kadir Nelson hits a home run with 'We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball’

Photograph by Marshall Williams.

Since African Americans were banned from playing in the majors, they created their own leagues. I think of We Are the Ship as a portrait of a group of innovative, talented, and determined men who wouldn’t compromise their dreams of playing professional baseball. It’s a story of pride, excellence, and persistence in the face of adversity. And overall, it’s a story of triumph. They cleared the road for people like Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks and Don Newcombe, and the list goes on.

It took you seven years to finish the book. Why did it take so long?

I started in 2000, and I finished in 2007. Each of the paintings is larger than ones I’ve done for my other books. Many of them are 3 feet by 3 feet and some are 3 feet by 6 feet. But also, there was so much research for each painting—matching dates and the ages of the players and the colors of the uniforms—and all of those details weren’t always easy to find.

For my other children’s books, I didn’t use models. But for this one, I wanted everything to look realistic. So I suited up in a baseball uniform and put my camera on a tripod and posed like each of the players. I used the photographs to see how the light would fall over the folds of the uniform and the human body instead of having to imagine it.

You’re known as a fabulous artist. But who knew you could write so well?

I didn’t want to write the story. I thought we’d find a professional, established writer. But the more I learned about the Negro leagues, the more I knew how I wanted the story to be told. I wanted it to sound as if it were coming straight from someone who had lived through it—an every-player, everyman kind of voice. I didn’t feel that it was appropriate for me to tell a writer what to write and how to write it. So I gave it a shot.

I also spoke to former Negro league players, like Buck O’Neil, who was a player and manager with the Kansas City Monarchs and was featured in Ken Burns’s documentary. But my primary consultant on the history of the Negro leagues was Walter McCoy. He played with the Chicago American Giants. He played with the best of the best: Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, and Jackie Robinson. As far as the voice of the book, I was trying to speak in their voices, Mr. McCoy’s and Buck O’Neil’s. I really familiarized myself with the history. So when it came time to write the story, it pretty much wrote itself.

The people who have inspired your artwork include Ernie Barnes, Norman Rockwell, N. C. Wyeth, Thomas Blackshear, and Michael Jordan. What’s MJ doing on that list?

When I was 14 or 15, watching him inspired me to play basketball. I really gained a lot of confidence playing basketball. He was so expressive in the way he played. And drawing him, I learned how to express emotion in my artwork.

I’ve heard you say you have “a self-appointed responsibility to show African Americans in a positive light.” Why is that important to you?

I remember as a kid, many of those images weren’t available to me. When you see people who look like you and your family presented in a positive way, it helps you feel more pride. If you have an example in front of you, perhaps you start to think, “I can do that, too.” That really opens children’s eyes, and that’s what I hope my work does.