Effa Louise Manley
Born: March 27, 1897, Philadelphia, PA
Died: April 16, 1981, Los Angeles, CA
Effa Manley co-owned the Newark Eagles with her husband Abraham "Abe" Manley from 1935 to 1948. The Newark Eagles team name came about because the Manleys brought the Brooklyn Eagles and the Newark Dodgers and consolidated them into a single franchise. Manley was a civil rights advocate and astute business woman who handled the day-to-day operations for the team. Historically, Manley is one of three women to own a Negro Leagues Baseball team. The other female owners were Olivia Taylor who became owner of the Indianapolis ABCs following the death of her husband in 1922, and Minnie Forbes who owned the Detroit Stars from 1956 to 1958. In 2006, Manley became the first female inductee into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Sources: The Society for American Baseball Research, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, National Baseball Hall of Fame, Major League Baseball, Encyclopedia Britannica, National Public Radio, and the Library of Congress were the primary research sources for the biographical information contained in this exhibition label.
