Oscar Levis was a Negro Leagues star — and Jewish. Jewish baseball forgot him

Oscar Levis, a Negro Leagues star pitcher who threw a no-hitter and dominated the Cuban Winter League, has been posthumously identified as Jewish through archival research and genealogical detective work. Levis was the son of a prominent Jewish businessman in Jamaica. His Jewish identity was not previously recognized due to the Negro Leagues not being considered major leagues until 2020 and assumptions that Blackness and Jewishness did not overlap.

Oscar Levis, a star pitcher in the Negro Leagues who threw a no-hitter and dominated the Cuban Winter League, has been posthumously identified as Jewish through months of archival research, genealogical detective work, and family testimony. Levis was the son of Amos DaCosta Levy, a prominent Jewish businessman and politician in Jamaica, and Theodosia Foreman, a Black Jamaican woman. Levis's Jewish identity was not previously recognized by baseball history due to the Negro Leagues not being considered major leagues until 2020, and due to assumptions that Blackness and Jewishness did not overlap. The discovery was made by a journalist and confirmed by historians and family descendants. The article details the research process, including reviews of Jamaican newspapers, synagogue records, and consultations with historians of Caribbean Jewish history.