Major League Baseball (MLB) is celebrating its fifth annual Civil Rights Game week, paying tribute to civil rights pioneers at Atlanta’s Turner Field. The highly anticipated four-day series of activities runs May 12-15, leading up to the game where the city’s home team, the Braves, play the Philadelphia Phillies.
“The city of Atlanta was a central and dynamic location during the Civil Rights Movement. We feel there is no better place for MLB to host this meaningful and prestigious game. Our pledge is to make sure that history continues to be told and that we continue to bring together people from all races, religions and sexual orientations for the love of baseball,” says Atlanta Braves president John Schuerholz.
The 2011 Civil Rights Game and ancillary activities began in Memphis in 2007, centering on an exhibition game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians. After another exhibition game in Memphis in 2008, the Civil Rights Game and ancillary events moved to Cincinnati in 2009 and 2010 as regular season contests.
Attendees in Atlanta can look forward to the return of the MLB Beacon Awards Banquet, the Baseball and Civil Rights Roundtable Discussion and the Youth Summit/”Wanna Play?” events. Two new activities have been added to illustrate the league’s role in supporting diversity, including the Selig Business Conference, a two-day job and procurement trade fair for diversity workforce and supply chain networking and registration; and Chasing the Dream: A Red Carpet Tribute to Hank Aaron, an Oscar-nominated documentary.
“We [Atlanta Braves] have several levels to our diversity strategy. For example, our hiring practices, our minority vendor program and our marketing initiatives to several different fan bases are some of the ways we focus on keeping the Braves diverse in the office, on the field and in the stands,” Schuerholz points out.
The schedule is as follows:
Baseball & the Civil Rights Movement Roundtable Discussion – Ebenezer Baptist Church, Friday, May 13 (3 p.m.–4:30 p.m. EST) with Arte Moreno, LA Angels; singer Gloria Gaynor; Marc Morial, National Urban League; Delores Huerta, United Farms Worker; Darrell Miller, MLB; Bryan T. Roberts, brigadier general, US Army; and Dr. Charles Ogletree, Harvard Law School.
Youth Summit/Wanna Play? – Centennial Park, Saturday, May 14 (9 a.m.–4:30 p.m.): A free event for kids to take part in baseball and softball clinics with Major League players, followed by a Q-and-A session.
MLB Beacon Awards Banquet presented by Belk and Georgia Power – Omni Hotel Grand Ballroom, Saturday, May 14 (7 p.m. –9:15 p.m. EST) honoring Hall of Famer and Cubs legend Ernie Banks (Beacon of Life), Academy Award-winning Actor Morgan Freeman (Beacon of Hope) and Grammy Award-winning artist Carlos Santana (Beacon of Change)
Fifth Annual Civil Rights Game – Turner Field, Sunday, May 15 (Game time scheduled for 1:10 p.m. EST) preceded by a pre-game performance by Marvin Sapp at 12:45 p.m.
Following the day’s game is a one-hour performance by Ciara, DJ Khaled, Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris.
All net proceeds from the MLB Beacon Awards Banquet and Red Carpet Tribute to Hank Aaron will go to the Washington, D.C. Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation. –yvette caslin
For more information on the Civil Rights Game and ancillary events, fans can visit www.mlb.com/civilrightsgame.
