The story of the Dolly Vardens, a 19th-century baseball team made up of Black women

PHILADELPHIA — In May 1883, in the Lamokin Woods in Chester, a group of Black women strode down a hill. Leading them was Ella Harris, who wore a fashionable pink calico dress and a white jockey cap. She hoisted a baseball bat over one shoulder.

The red ribbon pinned to her dress distinguished her as the captain of the Philadelphia Dolly Vardens, a baseball team fully composed of Black women.

Her team wasn’t alone in the woods; a large crowd of people of all ages and races had gathered, awaiting the game that had been announced the day before.