June 19th (commonly referred to as Juneteenth) is a federal holiday that commemorates the official end of slavery in the United States. To celebrate the holiday this past weekend, a pair of new Kansas City Chiefs were out in the community, educating and being educated at the historic Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, Missouri.
Joined by the president of the NLBM, Bob Kendrick, and over a dozen football players from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy, Chiefs CB Trent McDuffie and S Justin Reid learned about the history and importance of the Negro Leagues.
“I don’t care what sport you might play,” Kendrick said. “All roads lead to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.”
Both Reid and McDuffie had never been to the NLBM before. They had the opportunity to learn about how many of the athletes who played in this league were pioneers for professional sports as we currently know them. Both players had some revelations from their experience at the museum.
“America’s game was baseball at the time,” Reid said. “So, a lot of the greatest athletes played in this league. Their love and passion for playing their sport bled into culture and ended up making revolutionary changes in society.”
“One thing that I really found interesting was that at the Negro League games, the crowd was not segregated,” McDuffie said. “Everybody sat together. Compared to other Major League Baseball games at that time — they were segregated. To me, that was really cool, because you never really hear about that and those certain things that morphed society into what it is today.”
Kendrick emphasized that the story of the Negro Leagues teaches us about overcoming adversity. That’s a good lesson for both McDuffie and Reid to be reminded of ahead of the start of the season. It also served as an opportunity for both players to learn a bit about their new home and those who came before them.
“For me, Kansas City now is home,” McDuffie said. “Just being able to come here and feel like I’m a part of the community is special.”
McDuffie spoke at length to Chiefs team reporter Matt McMullen from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum for the “Defending the Kingdom” podcast. You can watch that interview here. To find out more about the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, you can visit their website here.
