Bemidji State University issued the following announcement on March 29.
On March 30, Dr. Eric Berg, associate professor of philosophy and Dr. Lindsay Bell, assistant professor of history, will continue the Spring 2022 Honors Council Lecture Series with their research on two select histories within America’s national pastime – baseball.
In “Prince Honeycutt: The First African American Baseball Player in Minnesota,” Berg will outline the life of Prince Honeycutt who, among other accomplishments, founded Minnesota’s Fergus Falls North Star Baseball Club in 1873
“Prince Honeycutt lived a remarkable life by any account,” Berg said.
In his presentation, Berg will also focus on how professional baseball got started under Honeycutt’s leadership on the Minnesota prairie.
Bell’s research, titled “Uncle Sam Strikes Out: Commissioner Landis and the Rehabilitation of Baseball’s Patriotism,” explores how organized baseball influenced America’s perceptions of race, manhood and identity between 1917 to 1947. His research primarily explores how and why the game’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, initiated a campaign to rehabilitate the image of the professional ballplayer.
About Berg
Berg holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy from Minnesota State University, Moorhead, a master’s in theology and doctrine from the Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Kansas in Lawrence.
About Bell
Bell received his doctorate from Iowa State University in Ames May 2020 and specializes in early twentieth-century United States history, specifically the role of sports to the construction of modern American culture. He has presented his research at the Baseball Hall of Fame’s annual consortium and virtually as part of the 2020 Society for American Baseball Researchers national conference.
About the Honors Council Lecture Series
The Honors Council Lecture Series is hosted by the Bemidji State University Honors Council, the advisory group to BSU’s honors program. It is composed of 12 faculty members representing each of the university’s colleges. Student representatives are also elected to the council by their cohorts for one-year terms. The series provides BSU faculty with a forum to share their expertise and the results of their research with the Bemidji community. All Honors Council lectures are open free to the public.
Calendar Information
March 30 – Hagg-Sauer Hall 116, 6 p.m.
Contact
- Season Ellison, associate professor of history, Honors and Liberal Education Programs director.
- BSU Honors Program
Alerts Sign-up