From August 14-16, a co-worker and I had the opportunity to travel to Kansas City, MO to attend a conference on “Strengthening the Culture of Care” in residential treatment. We enjoyed training alongside professionals from Missouri and elsewhere who work with clients a lot like ours, and we’re eager to share what we learned there in upcoming in-services here at Wedgwood.
On the last day of the trip, just after the conference had concluded, we had a couple hours of free time before returning to the airport, so we decided to take in the sights a little. We made our way to Kansas City’s historic “18th and Vine” district, which among other attractions features the Negro League Baseball Museum and the American Jazz Museum. Each facility is dedicated to preserving and showcasing the distinctive legacies of their subjects.
Both jazz music and Negro League baseball had a strong “home base” in Kansas City. Though New Orleans is more instantly thought of as the birthplace of jazz, KC played a pivotal role in its popularization. Bracketed into a small area due to municipal segregation policies, 18th & Vine was the hub of a flourishing community of clubs and theaters where performers like Count Basie and Big Joe Turner epitomized the heavily-blues influenced Kansas City style of jazz.
Legendary saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker grew up in KC, and later figures like Dexter Gordon and Miles Davis spent time there trying to capture the essence of the sounds they heard come out of that scene. Unfortunately, 18th and Vine is now just a shadow of its former glory. Urban renewal projects of the 1960’s leveled most of the area around the district to the point where once-lively urban blocks became fallow open fields and, later, housing projects. Over the past ten years, concerted effort has gone into reviving the district and these museums play an important role, but the district will probably never be quite as lively and creative as it was “back in the day.”Nearby to all the jazz clubs, the Kansas City Monarchs baseball team had its office headquarters. The Monarchs were one of the most dominant and financially successful of the Negro League franchises, making Kansas City the natural place to host this tribute to African-American athletes and the businessmen who endured much hardship along the way. The Monarchs featured players like Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell and Jackie Robinson, who played for the Monarchs for one season before breaking the “color barrier” that for nearly sixty years had prevented African-American players from joining the Major Leagues.
Coming to grips with the tragic waste and hostility of racial segregation was the most moving aspect of my visit to the NLBM. Numerous exhibits make it clear that racial discrimination was neither an accident nor a natural reflection of the prevailing public attitudes of the times. Specific decisions were made to accommodate outspoken bigots among the larger group of players and owners of major league teams. As offensive as those racist beliefs may appear to us today, we have to acknowledge that the assumptions were not resisted by too many people who should have known better. Segregation would not have lasted as long as it did if more people had spoken out against it.The NLBM stands as a testimony to the athletic skills and showmanship of the Negro League players and a sobering indictment of a society that failed to live up to the ideals expressed in America’s founding vision of a nation where all are created equal. Both museums joyously affirm the legacy of people who managed to thrive and make lasting contributions to our culture that we can and should enjoy. At the same time, they deliver bracing reminders of what can happen when bigotry and prejudice are allowed to stand unchallenged.
2 comments:
Sounds like you crammed a lot into a few hours! 18th and Vine sounds like a really historic area, although I was disappointed to read that so much of it has been leveled in recent years. It seemed to be becoming more and more rare for cities to make an effort to preserve parts of their history -- my own hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia, went through a period of tearing down historic structures for the sake of throwing up anything that could bring the city a quick buck.
Thankfully, it seems to be a trend that's reversing itself -- cities are finding that history can bring in just as many tourists and their dollars as anything. It's only unfortunate that so much history was destroyed before that realization was made.
- Matt
The museums are right next to each other in the same building, and they aren't too huge. But truth is, we had to rush through them a bit faster than I would have preferred.
I can't understand why cities are so eager to tear down their historic districts. Of course, I'm not the one footing the bill to restore dilapidated old buildings, but it seems to me that civic leaders should have a better appreciation for the heritage of their communities - especially large cities where a lot of historic and culturally significant stuff has happened.
When I was in NYC last spring, I shuddered to hear about how close Radio City Music Hall was to being torn down to make a parking lot back in the 70's. And Ellis Island sat in near-ruins for a few decades before some group of people realized that the place was a national, no, a world treasure for the story of all the immigrants who passed through there. Now the island and its restored buildings are beautiful monuments to an amazing cultural shift that took place in the last century. I love learning about and vicariously experiencing that stuff, and I always enjoy the opportunity to touch base with little bits and pieces of the past!
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