1942 Kansas City Call Calls Out The Blues For Segregating Ruppert Stadium Fans

May 22, 1942 Kansas City Call

This photo spread shows fans attending the 1942 Kansas City Monarchs home opener. The arrows point out white fans sitting peacefully in the integrated seating. The caption reprimands Ruppert (later Municipal) Stadium management for segregating the very same stands at KC Blues games:

TRUTH IS THE LIGHT- These candid shots, made at Ruppert stadium during the Kansas City Monarchs-Memphis Red Sox game, which opened the Negro season in Kansas City, Sunday afternoon, May 17, prove that white baseball fans DO sit beside, in front of, and behind Negro fans; prove that the mixed group of fans enjoy the game without starting a race riot, yes, right here in Kansas City. These shots prove, among other things, that when a ball game is in process, the fans center their attention on the game and NOT on WHO sits beside, behind, or in front of who- Why, then, does the Ruppert stadium management segregate Negroes who must buy a GENERAL ADMISSION ticket? The white fans do not raise the howl. Instead, it is the orange clad ushers who say in a most belligerent manner, "You can't sit there" to Negroes when they are sitting, and quite comfortably, too. White fans laugh at the antics of the ushers trying to get Negroes out of the grandstand. Truth is a bitter pill for SOME FOLK, but these pictures sure force the issue. The truth, pure and simple, is that it is the Ruppert stadium management, not the fans, who bring up and enforce segregation when the Blues play. Why would a white fan sit beside, behind and in front of a Negro one day and refuse to do the same thing another day? These pictures prove that nothing happens when it is done, so why does the management continue "carrying the ghost"?