SEC. 2. Findings.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Negro National League, a professional baseball league formed in response to African-American players being banned from the major leagues.
(2) On February 13, 1920, Andrew “Rube” Foster convened a meeting of 8 independent African-American baseball team owners at the Paseo YMCA in Kansas City, Missouri, to form a “league of their own,” establishing the Negro National League, the first successful, organized professional African-American baseball league in the United States.
(3) Soon, additional leagues formed in eastern and southern States.
(4) The Negro Leagues would operate for 40 years until 1960.
(5) The story of the Negro Leagues is a story of strong-willed athletes who forged a glorious history in the midst of an inglorious era of segregation in the United States.
(6) The passion of the Negro Leagues players for the “National Pastime” would not only change the game, but also the United States.
(7) The creation of the Negro Leagues provided a playing field for more than 2,600 African-American and Hispanic baseball players to showcase their world-class baseball abilities.
(8) The Negro Leagues introduced an exciting brand of baseball that was in stark contrast to Major League Baseball.
(9) A fast, aggressive style of play attracted black and white fans who sat together to watch those games at a time when it was virtually unheard of to interact socially in such a way.
(10) Negro Leagues baseball would become a catalyst for economic development across the United States in major urban centers such as Kansas City, St. Louis, New York, Memphis, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Chicago, and Atlanta.
(11) The Negro Leagues pioneered “Night Baseball” in 1930, 5 years before Major League Baseball, and would introduce game-changing innovations such as shin guards and the batting helmet.
(12) The Negro Leagues helped make the National Pastime a global game as players from the Negro Leagues—
(A) were the first people from the United States to play in many Spanish-speaking countries; and
(B) introduced professional baseball to the Japanese in 1927.
(13) Jackie Robinson, a military veteran and former member of the Negro Leagues’ Kansas City Monarchs, would break Major League Baseball’s color barrier on April 15, 1947, with the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way for other African-American and Hispanic baseball players.
(14) The Negro Leagues were born out of segregation yet would become a driving force for social change in the United States.
(15) The Negro Leagues produced future Major League Baseball stars, including Leroy “Satchel” Paige, Larry Doby, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Roy Campanella.
(16) The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum was established in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1990—
(A) to save from extinction a precious piece of Americana and baseball history; and
(B) to use the many life lessons of the powerful story of triumph over adversity of Negro Leagues players to promote tolerance, diversity, and inclusion.
(17) In 2006, Congress granted National Designation to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, recognizing it as “America’s Home” for Negro Leagues baseball history.
