The color line, also known as the color barrier, in American baseball stopped players of black African descent from playing Major League Baseball and its affiliated Minor Leagues until 1947 (with a few notable exceptions in the 19th century before the line was firmly established). Racial segregation in professional baseball was sometimes called a gentlemen's agreement. This means an understanding, as there was no written policy at the highest level of organized baseball, the major leagues. There was minor league's vote in 1887 against allowing new contracts with black players within its league. It sent a powerful message that eventually led to blacks not being allowed to play at all.
The color line was broken for good when Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization for the 1946 season.
The beginning of segregation followed the baseball season of 1867. On October 16, the Pennsylvania State Convention of Baseball in Harrisburg denied admission to the "colored" Pythian Baseball Club.
Leavenworth Soldiers
The Leavenworth Soldiers was the first professional baseball team from Leavenworth, Kansas. The club played in the Western League from 1886 to 1888. Their first year, they tied the Lincoln Tree Planters for last place at 31-49. In 1887, the Soldiers were 27-27 when they disbanded on July 8 due to poor attendance. In 1888, Leavenworth returned to the loop and went 7-7 under L. M. Cretors. They were in second place when the league stopped operations on June 21. A J. Curran was leading the club in batting average at .300.
Western League (original)
The Western League of Professional Baseball Clubs, also called the Western League, was a minor league baseball league. It created on February 11, 1885. It focused on the Midwestern United States.
Before its most famous version in November 1893, the Western League existed in various forms. The League was created as a minor league on February 11, 1885. The original clubs were in Indianapolis‚ Kansas City‚ Cleveland‚ Milwaukee‚ Toledo and Omaha/Keokuk, Iowa.
Barn raising
A barn raising, also historically called a raising bee or rearing in the U.K., is a collective action of a community, in which a barn for one of the members is built or rebuilt by members of the community. Barn raising was common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America. A barn was a necessary building for any farmer. Yet a barn was also a big and expensive building. Building a farm needed many people than a typical family could provide. Barn raising addressed the need by getting members of the community, unpaid, to help in the building of their neighbors' barns. Because each member was entitled to recruit others for help, the favor would eventually return to each participant.
One or more people with experience or with specific skills are chosen to lead the project. Young people helping for the first time have watched many barn raisings and know what is expected of them.
Greensburg, Kansas
Greensburg is a city in, Kiowa County, Kansas, United States. It is also the county seat of Kiowa County. In 2010, 777 people lived there. Before the tornado, in 2000, 1,544 people lived there.
In the evening of May 4, 2007, Greensburg was hit by an EF5 tornado that traveled quickly through the area. It destroyed at least 95 percent of the city. It killed eleven people between the ages of 46 and 84.
Greensburg today is a model "green town". It is often described as the greenest in America. The hospital, city hall, and school have all been built to the highest certification level issued by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Greensburg is also home to the world's largest hand-dug well.
At 9:45 p.m. CDT on May 4, 2007, during a deadly tornado outbreak, Greensburg was hit by an EF5 tornado. The tornado was estimated to be in width — wider than the city itself — and traveled for nearly . Tornado sirens sounded in the city twenty minutes before the tornado struck, and a tornado emergency was issued, which undoubtedly saved many lives.
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius and President George W. Bush both declared Kiowa County a disaster area, which opened up the affected areas for national and international aid. The tornado killed 10 people in Greensburg and two more in neighboring towns.
Greensburg is at (37.6027963, -99.2926131). The United States Census Bureau says taht the city has a total area of . All of it is land.
The 2010 census says that there were 777 people, 355 households, and 212 families living in Greensburg.
Greensburg is served by USD 422 Kiowa County Schools. The Kiowa County High School mascot is Mavericks.
Official sites
2007 tornado
Other sites
Coronado, Kansas
Coronado was an unincorporated community in Wichita County, Kansas, United States. It was platted in 1885. Coronado was involved in the bloodiest county seat fight in the history of the American West. The shoot-out on February 27, 1887, with boosters—some would say hired gunmen—from nearby Leoti left several people dead and wounded.
Coronado had a post office from 1886 until 1899.
County seat war
A county seat war is an American phenomenon that happened mostly in the Old West as it was being settled. Although, there were similar events elsewhere, such as in southeastern Ohio. As new towns were created and county lines were drawn, there was intense competition for the status and tax benefits received by becoming a county seat. These "wars" often involved nothing more than lining up at the ballot box. However, sometimes people from a particular town would use voter fraud, intimidation or violence.
Transcontinental railroad
A transcontinental railroad is a network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass. It must be continuous. It has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad, or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies along a continuous route.
Pacific Railroad Acts
The Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862 were a series of acts of Congress that supported the construction of a "transcontinental railroad" (the Pacific Railroad) in the United States. This happened through authorizing issuing government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies. The War Department under then-Secretary of War Jefferson Davis was authorized by the Congress in 1853 to do surveys of five different potential transcontinental routes from the Mississippi. These surveys ranging from north to south and submitted a massive twelve volume report to Congress with the results in early 1855. However, no route or bill could be agreed upon and passed authorizing the Government's financial support and land grants. This change when the secession of the southern states in 1861 ended their opposition to a central route. The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 () was the original act. Some of its provisions were changed, expanded, or repealed by four more amending Acts: The Pacific Railroad Act of 1863 (), Pacific Railroad Act of 1864 (), Pacific Railroad Act of 1865 (), and Pacific Railroad Act of 1866 ().
The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 started federal government land grants directly to corporations; before that act, the land grants were made to the states, for the benefit of corporations.
Pee Wee Gaskins
Donald Henry "Pee Wee" Gaskins Jr. (March 13, 1933 – September 6, 1991) was an American serial killer. He was executed by electrocution by South Carolina in 1991.
Gaskins was born in South Carolina, the last in a string of illegitimate children. Due to his smallness, he was nicknamed "Pee Wee". His youth was characterized by considerable neglect; for instance, when he was one year old, he drank a bottle of kerosene. He grew to 5 foot 2 inch and 130 pounds.