The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Kansas City Monarchs oral history collection

Repository: State Historical Society of Missouri, Kansas City

Collection Description (Extant): The Kansas City Monarchs baseball team was a charter member of the Negro National League which was established in 1920. The Monarchs were active from 1920 until the integration of baseball in the 1950's. In 1978 Janet Bruce and Catherine T. Rocha applied for and received a grant from the Friends of the Library at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to conduct a series of oral history interviews with surviving members of the Kansas City Monarchs. In October 1979, Ms. Bruce received another small grant from the UMKC Friends of the Library for additional oral history interviews. Interviews gathered under these two grants are represented in this collection. In addition to the oral history interviews on cassette tapes, the collection includes correspondence and reports related to grants which Janet Bruce and Catherine T. Rocha held while gathering their eighteen interviews with persons who played with or were associated with the Kansas City Monarchs.

Date(s): 1978-1981

Existing IDs: KC0047

Extent: 4 folders, 25 audiotapes

Finding Aid URL: http://www.umkc.edu/whmckc/Collections/INVTRY/KC0047.pdf

Language: English

Interviewees: Mrs. Eddie Dwigh, Hank Baylis, Newt Allen, John “Buck” O’Neil, Maurice Young, Hilton Smith, Connie Johnson, Alfred Surratt, Jessie Williams, Allen Bryant, Alberta Penn, Jesse Fisher, Guy Davis, Richard Wilkinson, Harriet Baird Wickstrom, M.L. Wickstrom, Othello Renfoe, Ted Rasberry, Gladys Catron, Roy Johnson, Robert Sweeney

Rights (CRHP): Contact the repository which holds the collection for information on rights

Subjects:

African American athletes
African Americans--Missouri
Baseball
Discrimination in sports
Negro leagues

Genres:

Interviews
Sound recordings