Thanks to Gary Geiger Counter over at Primer for drawing this to my attention. The Providence Journal had a great article on Sunday about William E. White, who was recently established by SABR researchers as the first black player in the major leagues. It was long believed that Fleet Walker of Toledo in 1884 was the first black player, but White (who previously was a "mystery player", one of those guys from the 19th century about whom nothing was known) played one National League game, at first base for the Providence Grays in 1879.
White's story is fascinating, and definitely not to be missed. Do yourself a favour and take five or ten minutes for the article. It's worth it. Incidentally, GGC's excellent blog, Baseball History, has lots of excellent baseball history stuff in the archives.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040220103211999