ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - Union troops on June 19, 1865, arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, with the news that slaves in the United States were free on what became known as Juneteenth.

This is according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and on June 17, 2021, Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday.

Although slaves at that time were free, this didn’t mean equality for quite a long time as exemplified in sports.  

The first African American to play in the NFL was Fritz Pollard in 1920, but after Pollard’s playing career, the owners agreed to prevent the signing of more black players, according to the National Football League Players Association. 

This was until 1946 when Kenny Washington and Woody Strode signed with the Los Angeles Rams and a year later, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 

According to an interview in 1971 for Gridiron magazine, Robinson said that Washington was the best football player he had ever seen, as they were teammates on the football team at UCLA. 

Robinson would go on to say that many Black athletes grow old with the hurt that they never got the chance to become national figures in professional sports. 

Strode would add to this as in an unpublished interview with Sports Illustrated he said, “History doesn't know who we are. Kenny was one of the greatest backs in the history of the game, and kids today have no idea who he is. If I have to integrate heaven, I don't want to go."

Major League Baseball took a step toward recognizing Black baseball players who didn’t have the chance to become national figures, as they recently decided to recognize Negro League statistics as a part of MLB history.  

Greats like Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and others will now be recognized for their contributions to baseball. 

Athletes like Washington, Strode and Robinson gave way for others to break the color barrier in their respective sports like Chuck Cooper, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Earl Lloyd in the NBA in 1950, Willie O’Ree in the NHL in 1958 and many others. 

Athletes like these sustained racial abuse and even death threats so future Black athletes could thrive. 

“Integrating the NFL was the low point of my life. There was nothing nice about it,” Strode said.  

Slowly but surely, more and more Black athletes were integrated into sports. This past 2023-24 season the NFL had just over 53% of Black players in the league and 70.4% in the NBA, according to Statista. 

Several local Black athletes were able to break through across the major professional sports due to the contributions of athletes like Washington, Strode and Robinson. 

Arik Armstead (Pleasant Grove): The former San Francisco 49er and now Jacksonville Jaguar was a standout early in his career at Pleasant Grove High School. 

His talents on the football field took him to the University of Oregon, where he racked up 46 total tackles as a defensive lineman in his junior year before the 49ers drafted him seventeenth overall in the 2014 NFL Draft. 

A standout year for Armstead was his 2019 season, where he accumulated 10 sacks and 54 total tackles, which led him to sign a five-year $85 million contract with the 49ers in March 2020. 

It was also in 2020 that Armstead stepped up and spoke with Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area about an incident where he was racially profiled as a teenager in Elk Grove. 

“The moment that always sticks out for me was when I was in high school,” Armstead said. “A cop gets behind us, pulls us over. ‘What y’all doing? Where y’all going?’”

He and two other Black students who lived near Pleasant Grove were on their way home, according to Poole’s article, and the officer accompanied Armstead and his friends to the house they were heading to. 

The officer left once the friend opened the house door and ensured that Armstead and the other friend were acquainted with him. 

“Being 14, 15 years old, just trying to mind your business. Never been in trouble in my life. And you’re just going to assume that since I’m in this neighborhood, I don’t have the right to be here, that I have no business being here,” Armstead said. “You feel you can check my right to be in this neighborhood?”

The discrimination Armstead faced due to the color of his skin exemplifies the continual fight for equality for the Black community. 

Armstead is set to play his first year with the Jaguars this upcoming season as the Jaguars are looking to improve after missing the playoffs despite a strong start in 2023. 

Bill Cartwright (Elk Grove): Bill Cartwright was born in Lodi but went on to develop as a basketball player at Elk Grove High School, where he graduated in 1975.

Cartwright helped the Herd go undefeated in the 1973-74 season and went on to win the NorCal Tournament in 1975. 

In both years, Cartwright was named the California High School State Basketball Player of the Year along with California High School Sports Athlete of the Year.

Cartwright was averaging 36 PPG and 24 RPG as a center, according to his biography published by the University of San Francisco. 

Cartwright would go on to the USF standing at 7’ 1” and 245 lbs. to become a three-time All-American, All-WCAC, All-Northern-California, All-District, All-Pacific-Coast, two-time Northern California Player of the Year and three-time WCAC MVP. 

He also became USF’s all-time leading scorer by the time he graduated in 1979, as he averaged 19.1 PPG and 10.2 RPG.  

His accomplishments at USF led to his hall of fame induction at the school in 1986, but before that, in 1979 Cartwright was taken third overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the New York Knicks.    

In his first season, Cartwright would make his first and only All-Star game selection and would remain with the Knicks till 1988. 

That same year, he would be traded to the Chicago Bulls, where he was part of three consecutive NBA titles from 1991 to 1993 during the iconic Bulls of the 1990s dynasty and Phil Jackson’s triangle offense. 

After 29 games with the now-extinct Seattle Supersonics, Cartwright would retire in 1995, leaving his career total averages of 8.9 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 72.5 FT%. 

Cartwright's first gig in coaching came as an assistant for legendary coach Phil Jackson with the Bulls in 1996, where he won consecutive titles from 1996 to 1998. 

During the franchise’s rebuild, he was named head coach in 2001 and would remain until 2003, when he would move on to become an assistant coach with the New Jersey Nets from 2004 to 2008, then the Phoenix Suns from 2008 to 2012. 

Since 2016, Cartwright has been USF’s director of University Initiatives and was inducted into the 2024 Sacramento Walk of Stars. 

Derek Hill (Elk Grove): During the first round of the MLB Draft in 2014, Derek Hill was drafted twenty-third overall by the Detroit Tigers out of Elk Grove High School. 

Hill would play varsity-level baseball for the Herd as of his sophomore year in 2012, and he hit .451 with 19 RBIs and two home runs in 22 games. 

By the end of his high school career, Hill would hit .458 with 76 RBIs and three home runs in 84 games played to accumulate a 1.234 OPS (on-base plus slugging). 

In 2013 Hill played in Perfect Game, an organization that furthers the development and career of high school baseball players, USA’s 2013 All-American Classic. 

A scout for Perfect Game said, “Outstanding at PG National. 6.4 runner, made highlight plays in the outfield and hit very well! He does it all.”

He had a Perfect Game grade of 10, which touted him as a potential very high draft pick and/or elite-level college prospect, according to its grading system. 

This play allowed him to be committed at the collegiate level with the University of Oregon, but he instead chose to sign on June 11, 2014, with the Detroit Tigers. 

The road wasn’t easy, but Hill made his MLB debut on Sept. 4, 2020, as a defensive replacement and would get his first major league hit on Sept. 26, 2020, in Kansas City. 

On Aug 8, 2021, Hill would hit his first big league home run in an away game against the Cleveland Guardians in what is, at the time of publication, one of four home runs in his career. 

Hill was designated for assignment by the Tigers on Aug. 1, 2022, but was claimed off waivers by the Seattle Mariners a couple of days later and was once again designated for assignment in October 2022 and would choose free agency.

The Washington Nationals and Hill reached an agreement for a minor league deal, but his contract was selected by the major league team on June 21, 2023, and in 13 games slashed .170/.220/.191 with an RBI and a stolen base. 

After once again being designated for assignment, Hill would sign a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers for the 2024 season and was promoted from Triple-A on May 21, 2024. 

In five games with the Rangers, Hill went 2-9 with a stolen base. He was designated for assignment but cleared waivers and was sent to Triple-A Round Rock on June 12, where he continues to fight his way back to the majors. 

Hill is one of two Black players to come out of Elk Grove to play in the MLB alongside Jason McDonald, with first-round draft pick in 2023 and Franklin High School alumnus Chase Davis on a path to become the third.  

According to an article by Anthony Castrovince for mlb.com, MLB is made up of 6.2% Black players out of 945 players overall as MLB aims for a higher percentage of Black players over time.