With severe storms in the forecast, we decided to spend a leisurely morning organizing all our photos and notes from the last several days travel. Finally, it was time to do a little exploring in Kansas City, Missouri and have a late lunch.
Loving baseball as we do, we ventured out to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the historic 18th & Vine District of Kansas City. 18th & Vine was THE thriving center of the African American community in Kansas City during segregation. It was home to many of the key businesses, churches, and social organizations that worked to eliminate segregation. It served as a cultural center for everything from jazz and baseball to nightlife throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s.
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum traced the story of the rigid color barrier in the game of baseball. Black baseball teams played without any structure until 1920, when the first negro league was formed. From 1920 – 1955, more than 30 communities were home to teams that were organized into six different leagues. These communities were located primarily in the Midwest, Northeast and South (Birmingham, Alabama was home to the Black Barons).
We learned the stories of Negro League stars Buck Leonard, Satchel Paige, “Cool Papa” Bell, “Pop” Lloyd, Buck O’Neil and many others. Jackie Robinson, who played with the Kansas City Monarchs, broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. It took the next 12 years, to 1959, to integrate all Major League Baseball teams.
The 18th & Vine District was also famous for its many night clubs, where live music was performed. At the American Jazz Museum, we learned that Kansas City’s legendary jazz musicians — Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Big Joe Turner, Jay McShann and hundreds of others perfected their blues-based jazz style in the clubs. We also read about jazz greats Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington.
While in Kansas City, we kept seeing statues of hearts (very similar to the statues of black squirrels we saw in Marysville, KS). It turns out that Kansas City, located right in center of “Americas Heartland,” has laid claim to the phrase “Americas Heartland” and Kansas City has created the Parade of Hearts to comemmorate that claim. Like the statues of the black squirrels in Marysville, KS, the hearts in Kansas City show different things important in the life of the citizens of Kansas City.
We broke from our visit to the historic 18th & Vine District to have lunch at Arthur Bryant’s Barbeque. Interestingly, Bill remembered eating there years ago while in Kansas City to do an audit of Phillips Petroleum’s Pension Plan. The main difference today from the last time Bill was at this restaurant was they no longer cure their barbeque sauce in large 5 gallon jugs in the windows of the reataurant.
Tomorrow we head to Branson, MO for a week of fun with Joyce and Gordy Young!
50-in-50 Challenge 