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Boston: The city that gave us two pro teams with racist names

Adams of the Braves and Marshall of the Redskins

C.F. Adams of the Boston Braves and George Marshall of the Boston Redskins in 1935. Photo by Leslie Jones.

In the Globe today, Kevin Paul Dupont traces the history of the Redskins to Boston, including why the team got its name (nothing spectacular, has to do with a breakup with the ownership team of the Braves) and how it hired a fake Indian as its first coach.

The Boston Redskins vs. the New York Giants at Fenway Park, 1933:

Redskins vs. Giants at Fenway Park

More Boston Redskins photos.

Photos from the BPL Leslie Jones collection posted under this Creative Commons license.

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Comments

Bring back the Braves! Long live the legend of Warren Spahn !

Biography:
Stylish Warren Spahn is the winningest left-hander in history with 363 victories, all but seven coming with the Boston/Milwaukee Braves. He was a 20-game winner 13 times, including six years in a row; and led the National League in wins eight times and complete games on nine occasions. He still holds the National League lifetime mark for innings pitched over his 21-year career, during which he hurled two no-hitters and won the 1957 Cy Young Award. He earned the prestigious Purple Heart and Bronze Star in World War II.

http://baseballhall.org/hof/spahn-warren

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I have a baseball with his autograph.

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besides the Redskins?

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The Braves.

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Bravery is a desirable attribute in an athlete (though maybe more in contact sports than in baseball)

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Because it's used in tandom with cultural appropriation of indigenous American culture.

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Because I'm certain they were deliberately attempting to be blatantly racist. If they were attempting to be racist they probably would have pick something more colorful, no?

And because I think this type of crazy liberal nonsense is retarded, that makes me a racist. Cool-aid anyone!

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A number of my elderly relatives were casually very racist. They didn't mean to be offensive, they just succeeded at it marvellously. That doesn't mean their racism was any less of a problem in the post-Jim Crow world.

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You're making an assumption that they intended to be racist, during I time when socialist (liberal) ideas were not publicly accepted.

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Intent doesn't factor into it. Racism doesn't require intent.

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...

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Put down the keyboard and go outside and play.

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The Braves were actually named after the logo of Tammany Hall.

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Leave it to half-white President Obama, white Globe hockey writer and a white former Globe staffer to find racism where none exists. I'll take it from a heroic Navajo Code talker who earlier this month endorsed the Redskins name as a symbol of courage. Great time for "progressives" to change the subject away from Global Warming while not only a heavy steel research vessel but the Chinese icebreaker sent to assist are both stuck in the Antarctic ice pack. To quote Howie Carr who was paraphrasing Oscar Wilde, "it would take a heart of stone not to laugh."

PS -- I know a school principal who along with his students battled the Justice Department (and won) on a Native American school mascot issue. Many Native Americans testified in support of the mascot, adding that the term "redskin" doesn't refer to the skin pigmentation of Native Americans, merely the red berries and other natural ingredients that some Native Americans used as war paint on their faces. One Native American who opposed the mascot admitted he would have also opposed the Indian Head Nickel, the Sacagawea Dollar, statues to Native Americans and any and all other tributes because "white man" had no right to honor them.

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Or were the Navajo the local indiginous tribe?

In any case, I sincerely doubt that the Navajo have selected you to be their spokesperson.

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Call us back when they elect you or Adam, swirlykins.

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Yes SwirlyGrrl, I'm 1/32 Navajo and may soon be teaching at Harvard Law but not the official Navajo spokesman. I'd like to meet other Navajo for tea though. If you click on the link in my original post, you will see a full-blooded Navajo, heroic United States Marine Corps WWII Navajo Code Talker Roy Hawthorne, just called the Redskins name "a symbol of loyalty and courage" and not a derogatory slur. Here is the link again, in long form: http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/11/27/navajo-code-talker-redskins-na...

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I can also trace my heritage (and unlike Liz warren) to the micmac tribe (and I have valid documentation). I personally think this white guilt post and its comments are bs, and Adam is simply trolling.

But hey the liberals might be onto something, every white male in boston was a slaver owning racist. The south boston will rise again. O,wait!

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Totally amazing!

Well unlike swirly ... I can also trace my heritage (and unlike Liz warren) to the micmac tribe (and I have valid documentation).

You are also quite wrong when it comes to this baseless assumption.

Without getting into too much personal detail, I'll just leave it at this: some of my ancestors migrated to North America 300-350 years ago ... others came long before that.

And, yes, this is both genealogically and historically documented and genetically verified.

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Without getting into too much personal detail, I'll just leave it at this: some of my ancestors migrated to North America 300-350 years ago ... others came long before that.

n/t, except, bwaaaahaaa!

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I've been seeing a lot of articles recently about how genetic research is leading to our ancestry becoming very much more complicated rather than less. It's not a simple world.
Anyway, to try to discern from your remarks, Swirlly, where would you be if, as someone I know says (a lot) "Pilgrims should have landed in Souix country"? Heh.

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Otherwise, there isn't any possible way that we could ever know what is racist and sexist and what is not!

Can't trust women and people of color to know these things, right? Or the Native American organizations that do find these mascots offensive and have been working to get name changes.

Of course, trusting those who experience racism to adequately understand and interpret their own personal experiences = "white guilt". Because it is US versus THEM all the time! Start listening to "those people" "complain" and you're a traitor to TEAM WHITE!

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To team White Guilt. Your bleeding heart must rest easy at night.

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A quick google also reveals prominent Native Americans who have denounced the Redskins name and logo as racist. Oh damn now I might have to think through this myself, how the team founded in part by known racist George Preston Marshall could possibly have a name that could be considered racist. Oh damn.

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Liz warren to comment on this.

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"hired a fake Indian"

"Warren"

Heh.

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Until I see reparations and a public apology from Notre Dame for that offensive Leprechaun/Fighting Irish logo.

And Lucky Charms and the Boston Celtics, you're both on notice!

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two minutes of my life.

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The inability to distinguish between 'anything to do with race' and 'racism' is a sure sign of low intelligence.

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