Writing Historical Fiction: When the Ancestors Speak, a guest post by Sandra W. Headen

Deep admiration for my grandfather inspired me to write my middle grade historical novel, Warrior on the Mound. I wanted to tell a story about how a boy living in the Jim Crow South could grow into a self-confident and fearless Black man as I believed my grandfather to be. What challenges would he face? And who would be there to help him to navigate those challenges? When I began writing the book, I had published very little, but thought that I had learned some things about how to write a story. Truth be told, once my characters started to introduce themselves to me, I was no longer in control of the evolution of Warrior on the Mound. The story that I proposed about the hopes and dreams of one man was transformed by what I learned about the history of my ancestors in America. Their voices spoke to me through my characters, wanting to share their stories with young readers. I had no choice but to oblige them. I want to share with you just how that process unfolded.

I had already decided that the setting of the story would be my grandfather’s home in Eastern North Carolina during the prewar years of the 1930s. My ideas about the characters themselves, their motives and passions, and the challenges they might face in the novel were still vague. Creating these elements occurred simultaneously with researching historical events during the 1930s and reading historical children’s books. We are the Ship by Kadir Nelson, a picture book about Negro League Baseball changed everything by introducing me to a chapter in American history that was previously unknown to me. When I was growing up, watching the World Series with my dad was something that I looked forward to. Like most people, we revered Jackie Robinson because we thought that Black participation in baseball started when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. When I learned that Black men played organized baseball during the early 1800s, were banned from Major League Baseball teams by the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1887, and formed their own segregated league, I knew that it would change the story I would write.

Warrior on the Mound evolved in a creative cauldron where the characters emerged first and developed within the context of what I had recently learned about baseball. The main character who stepped forward initially was named Daniel. He was an industrious boy who helped his grandfather manage their strawberry farm. But Daniel seemed flat and two dimensional to me and I knew I had to bring him to life somehow. In a well-known exercise that writers engage in, Daniel and I sat down on the front porch steps of our grandparents home one Saturday morning and I asked him some questions: What do you do for fun? Who are your friends? Is there anything that you’re really, really good at? What are you excited about? Where do you want to be five years from now?

And that’s when Daniel disappeared! I found myself sitting next to Cato Octavius Jones. I could see this boy almost immediately in three dimensions. He was tall and thin with dark skin the color of molasses which he loved to eat. Cato loved baseball, was the captain of his team, the Pender County Rangers, and dreamed of someday pitching for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Baseball Leagues, just like his father and older brother, Isaac. I knew then that Warrior on the Mound would highlight Black baseball players and well-known Negro League teams. I also knew that baseball and the Negro Leagues would play a pivotal role in Cato’s life. And so, I made him a part of a pitching dynasty. He aspired to pitch as well as his brother, Isaac, and his deceased father, Daddy Mo. With Cato as my principal character, with his backstory anchored in Negro League baseball, I knew I had succeeded in expanding the scope of my novel beyond the dimensions inspired by my grandfather.

With this newfound purpose, I set out to elevate Black baseball players, including some who preceded the Negro Leagues. Octavius Valentine Catto was a high school teacher, social activist, and amateur baseball player who promoted competition between Black and white teams in Philadelphia during the 1860s. Recognizing his accomplishments, the city erected a statue in his honor in 2017. My main character, Cato Jones, is named for him. The Kansas City Monarchs, one of the most well-known teams in the Negro Leagues, is also highlighted in Warrior on the Mound. 

In addition to learning how an extraordinary Black family raises a strong young man and a talented pitcher, Warrior on the Mound will enhance readers’ knowledge of the history of Black Americans in baseball which started much earlier than 1947 when Jack Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is high time that we learned more about these players. My ancestors are smiling. I’m sure of it.

Excerpt from Warrior on the Mound by Sandra W. Headen

New York: Holiday House, 2024.

The back doors of the Cadillac open.

Isaac gets out on one side, and Philly Dan gets out on the other. Each one’s got a wide grin on his face.
“Hey, fellas!” yells Philly Dan. “We’ve got company.”

“And you’ll never guess who,” says Isaac.

Right then, the front door of the car opens and the tallest, thinnest fellow I’ve ever seen unfolds himself from the driver’s seat and walks toward us.

“No need to guess, boys. I am the one and only Satchel Paige, the best pitcher in baseball,” he says, smiling wide to show his gold tooth. (page 155)

Meet the author

Sandra W. Headen, PHD, Social and Community Psychologist, former faculty and researcher at The School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is now a full-time writer. Her short story “Papa’s Gifts” (The Carolina Quarterly, March 2019) was awarded the Jacob-Jones African-American Literary Award by the North Carolina Writers’ Network. Warrior on the Mound won SCBWI’s On-the-Verge/Emerging Voices Award for writers from underrepresented groups. Warrior on the Mound is also a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and received a Kirkus Starred review.


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About Warrior on the Mound

Narrated by twelve-year-old Cato, this intense and evocative story of racial unrest in prewar North Carolina ends with a dramatic match between white and Black little league teams.

1935. Twelve-year-old Cato wants nothing more than to play baseball, perfect his pitch, and meet Mr. Satchel Paige––the best pitcher in Negro League baseball. But when he and his teammates “trespass” on their town’s whites-only baseball field for a practice, the resulting racial outrage burns like a brushfire through the entire community, threatening Cato, his family, and every one of his friends.

There’s only one way this can end without violence: It has to be settled on the mound, between the white team and the Black. Winner takes all.

Written in first person with a rich, convincing voice, Warrior on the Mound is about the experience of segregation; about the tinderbox environment of the prewar South; about having a dream; about injustice, and, finally, about dialogue.

Back matter includes an author’s note, historical background, biographical information about Negro League players, and more.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

ISBN-13: 9780823453788
Publisher: Holiday House
Publication date: 03/05/2024
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

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