>> interested in american history tv? visit c-span.org/history. you can preview upcoming programs and watch college lectures, museum tours, archival films and more. american history tv at c-span.org/history. our spectrum cable partners worked with c-span cities tour staff only travel to kansas city, missouri. the city's national world war i museum and memorial showcases one of the largest collections of world war i artifacts in the world. learn more about kansas city, all weekend here on american history tv. bob: we are at the negro league museum in kansas city, missouri. here we document the story of black baseball in america in general, and the professional

negro league specifically. you just walked into an old all part. the only difference in this ballpark is that you will need some new baseball heroes. when you walk in to the ballpark, the first thing that you see is the field. of legends.he field the field of legends is a mock baseball diamond that houses 10 of 12 life-size negro league greats. they were positioned at -- as if they were playing a game. the firstsent 10 of group of negro league players to be inducted into the national baseball hall of fame. that is how all-star teams are chosen. on the outside looking in is the late great john buckle. the only one of our collection of statue set is not in the national baseball hall of fame, and in my belief he should have capacity, the cofounder of the negro league baseball museum is managing this

great all-star team that we assembled. in and see this incredible display, and we hope it invokes the desire that, i cannot wait to get out there and walk amongst though statues. baseballgro leagues museum we segregate you from the field. visitors to at least remotely experience what segregation was like. in the case of these great athletes, knowing well that there were good enough to play in the major leaks, so close yet so far. from most vantage point in the museum, you can see the field, but you cannot get to it. the only way you are about take the field at the negro league baseball museum, you have to earn the right and you do so by learning their story. by the time you have bared witness to everything they injured just to play baseball -- adjustably baseball in this country, the last thing you can do is take the field.

would be ruth foster who established the negro league in kansas city in 1920. it was a meeting that took place at the old ymca. the building still stands. it is right around the corner from where the museum currently operates. that is were that contingent of eight independent fastball -- baseball team owners met and start then 1920's to negro league they spot. they went on to operate for 40 years. 1960.920 until jackie robinson breaks the baseball color barrier in 1937, but 13 years after he breaks the color barrier, the negro leagues are still operating with a relatively good deal of success. it took major league baseball 12 years before every major-league team had at least one black baseball player. it was the legendary roots baseballhe greatest mind this sport has ever seen and nobody knows anything about

him, even though he is in the baseball hall of fame. , lost in the romantic nature of these heroic and overcames athletes who tremendous anniversary to go on to play this game that they love is the fact that negro league baseball was a thriving black business enterprise. just like black owned businesses in this country. the impact that it had inspired other businesses, it was probably greater than any other business during that time in the african-american community. free hotel.he it was a black owned hotel on the corner of 18th here in the historic 18th and vine jazz district. to have toa travesty stay at the street hotel. and visitingack kansas city, this is one of the few places a black person could have to stay in a hotel and it was by far the most majestic of

the black owned hotels or motels that were here in kansas city. this picks the sitting room of the old street hotel. you could walk into the sitting home of the street on any given day. you might see a former heavyweight boxing champion, joe lewis. or at that time, the fastest man in the world, jesse owens. or vinyl hampton. hampton is surrounded by members of the kansas city monarch. he loved the kansas city monarchs. so much so that john book will neal who is managing the monarchs at that time would put hampton at a monarch -- in a monarchy uniform and he would sit on the bench and serve as an honorary coach. there is beautiful lena horne throwing out the first pitch at an all-star game. the legend jerry jazz musician -- the legendary jazz musician had his own, so did louis armstrong. interesting -- interestingly enough all of the jazz players

wanted to be baseball players, all of the baseball players wanted to be jazz musicians. it was fitting that they would come to 18 can find for the best of both -- of both worlds. jazz and baseball. he jazz musician could get a gig in jansenists -- in kansas city when he could not get a gig anywhere else in the world because he had all the on 18thbs with music and 12th and line. this place was wide open and intersected.jazz that intrinsic mixture of jazz and baseball would radiate from 18th and vine and made it one of the most recognized street cross-sections anywhere in the world. changing time looks at world war ii. here we have the irony of young black soldiers dying fighting the same racism in other countries that we were being asked to accept here in the

states. that move to the american national pastime. the sentiment was fit. if they can die fighting for their country, they ought to be able to play baseball in this country. that led to the jackie robinson being handpicked for the great kansas city monarchs. jackie plays here in 1945. at the end of the season he signed to play in the dodgers organization. of course on april 15, 1947, he made that monumental walk on the field as a member of the brooklyn dodgers. more importantly, it ever changing the country. that is no countries jackie is breaking of the color barrier was one of the most significant events in american history. bolduseum makes the assertion that robinson's breaking of the color barrier was not just a part of the civil rights movement, it was the beginning of the civil rights movement. 1947. this is well before those are

noted civil rights occurrences. this is before brown versus the board of education, this is before rosa parks refusal to move to the back of the bus. as my dear friend so poetically said, dr. martin luther king jr. was a sophomore at morehouse when robinson signed that contract. president truman would not integrate the military until one year after jackie. from intensive purposes, this is what started the ball of social progress rolling in our country. the integration is bittersweet. i am not sure the african-american community was aware of what it was losing one we lost the negro league. it was so greatly impactful in spotting black businesses and helping create the dynamics of a thriving black culture. when we lost the negro league, we lost a lot of them.

segregation mandated ownership. integration, we did lose that. to the degree of ownership that theso prevalent in african-american community, i don't know if we will see that level of ownership again. i certainly hope that we will, but we lost a lot. it was good for the soul of our country, ultimately the integration of our sport which triggered it in a much broader fashion. it was good for the soul of our country. socially.s i don't think we ever fathomed it was possible, but it was absolutely devastating economically. we finally make our way to the read about the enough form displays and these incredible life-size bronze sculptures of negro league greats. they are on the mound by the legendary leroy paige.

there are few, if any who ever did it better than the legendary leroy paige. league teaches us is simple. in this great country of ours, if you dare to dream and you believe in yourself, you can do or be anything you want to be. these athletes dear to play playall -- dare to baseball. they had no idea they were making history. they did not care about making history, they just wanted to play ball. but the passion, the perseverance, the determination, the courage that these men demonstrated in the face of adversity would not only change our sport, and it changed our country for the better. >> our cities tour staff recently traveled to kansas city, missouri to learn about its rich history. learn more about kansas city and other stops on albert tour at c-span.org/cities tour.

you are watching american history tv. all we can, every weekend on c-span3. on american history tv, panhandle plains historical museum curator discusses the history and origin of the american cowboy. common mythst the and myths -- and misconceptions caused by the iconic cowboy image for trade in hollywood movies and dime novels. the kansas city public library hosted this hour-long event. >> good evening, it is great to have everybody here tonight. it is a great crowd. andeels like a festive light atmosphere. we have a great presentation for you tonight. , i work in thee public affairs department here at the library. it will be my honor here to introduce a guy that i have gotten to know and really come to admire a lot