30 Jun
Another very busy day in KCMO! We started out at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum which is located adjecent to the American Jazz Museum and the Visitor Center. That complex is located at 18th and Vine which is a historic area of Kansas City.
So inside the museum complex is the entrance to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. We started out with a movie about the Negro Leagues and the history. We sat on bleachers!
In the late 1800's and early 1900's America was segregated, and "America's Pastime" was played behind a rigid color barrier. The black community built it's own sports world. Black baseball teams played without any structure until 1920 when the first Negro league was formed.
The Negro leagues operated in parallel with the white Major and Minor league baseball teams. From 1920 to 1955 more than 30 communities were home to teams that were organized into six different leagues, located in the south, midwest and northeast.
. Over 367.000 black men served in the military with distinction, but with their own set of challenges. They were placed in separate units and subjected to severe racism by white officers. Nevertheless, for example, the Black 369th Division which had been assigned to the French Army, became the first Allied unit to reach the Rhine.
In the center of the museum is a baseball field with the bronze statues of notable Negro players at each position.
Leaving the Negro Leagues Museum we headed over to the American Jazz Museum which was in the same building.
This also started with a movie that highlighted various Jazz artists, and that was the focus to of the museum - Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, and all the greats. It also displayed various artifacts such as Louis Armstrong's trumpet, Ella Fitgerald's dress, etc. A few pictures:
Within, or connected with the museum is The Blue Room which various Jazz artists perform throughout the week and weekend. Unfortunately there were no performances today.
Outside and across the street was the old Gem Theater, part of the history of this area. Down the street is the Jazz Walk of Fame.
The building was kind of non-descript and I'm sure Doreen was thinking like, where the heck did you bring me! We entered the museum and made our way through the gift shop to the entrance where we watched four individual video screens , one at a time. They told the story of the Steamboat Arabia.
Back in the 1800's, America had basically been settled as far west as Kansas City. West of here was Indian territory until the Louisiana Purchase which expanded America west quite a ways. So there were thousands of people migrating west. Steamboats were an important part of this migration and there were hundreds of them traveling the various rivers carrying passengers and cargo. One of them was the Steamboat Arabia. One September 5, 1856 the Arabia hit a log snag in the Missouri River north of Kansas City and sank in 15 feet of water. The passengers and crew survived but the ship and her 200-ton frontier cargo were lost to the river.
In 1988, 132 years after the Arabia sank, five steamboat enthusiasts and explorers from the Kansas City area embarked on a project to locate and recover the ship and whatever contents could be found. The Missouri River had significantly changed course over the years and through the use of modern detection equipment, the wreck was discovered in the middle of a corn field.
To make a very long story short, they excavated the wreck, located about 45 feet underground, and recovered a treasure trove of cargo. It is absolutely unbelievable the condition of the items.
The restoration efforts continue. They have tubs of artifacts frozen in freezers on the premise. When they finish with one they will thaw out the next one and start the process on it. They have many firearms yet to be restored. Right now they are working on boots and shoes with over 700 pairs on display right now and 950+ pairs to go!
