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The Peters Chicago Union Giants were founded about 1908, when the partners
in the original Chicago Union Giants of 1887, Frank Leland and W. S.
Peters, parted ways. Each man then operated a Chicago Giants team under
his own name.
In 1917, Peters sold his team to former player Robert P. Gilkerson.
As the Gilkerson Union Giants, the team toured Wisconsin and the upper
Midwest every summer, playing local teams, primarily in small towns.
The Gilkerson Union Giants remained one of the best and most famous
barnstorming African-American teams in the region through the late 1930s.
As the accompanying articles from their 1923 tour suggest, the Gilkerson
Union Giants caused a sensation wherever they played. They were considered
so good that beating them made the season for local teams.
Although the the accompanying articles refer to the team by various
names, it was the same squad in each contest. Read
the first article>>
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