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A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION
20-207
In the Council of the District of Columbia
June 3, 2014
To honor the historic Langston Golf Course, on the occasion of its 75th anniversary and to recognize its activism in the District of Columbia and in professional and recreational golf.
WHEREAS, Langston Golf Course is significant for its development and desegregation of public and recreational facilities in the greater Washington, D.C. area;
WHEREAS, the Langston Golf Course advocated for the development of golfing facilities for African American players and ensured that courses operated by the National Park Service offered equal access and quality recreational facilities to African American players;
WHEREAS, Langston Golf Course is named after the abolitionist, attorney, educator, activist, and politician John Mercer Langston;
WHEREAS, John Mercer Langston was one of only 5 African Americans elected to Congress during the Post-Reconstruction Era;
WHEREAS, the Royal Golf Club and the Wake-Robin Golf Club petitioned Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes to build a course for African Americans to play;
WHEREAS, there were 5,209 golf facilities in the United States, with fewer than 20 open to African Americans in 1939 and the Acting Superintendent of the National Capital Parks officially opened Langston Golf Course on June 11, 1939;
WHEREAS, African American golfer Clyde Martin hit the first ball on the Langston Golf Course and became the first golf professional to play there;
WHEREAS, Langston Golf Course is the home course to the Royal Golf Club and the Wake-Robin Golf Club – 2 of the nation’s oldest golf clubs for African American men and women;
WHEREAS, the Royal Golf Club and the Wake-Robin Golf Club advocated to expand golfing facilities for African Americans and in 1955 the federal government expanded Langston Golf Course into an 18-hole course;
WHEREAS, the Wake-Robin Golf Club, Earl Woods, and Langston Golf Course were inducted into the National Black Golf Hall of Fame on March 23, 2013, in Tampa, Florida;
WHEREAS, Langston Golf Course is listed on the National Park Services’ National Register of Historic Places; and
WHEREAS, three junior golf programs currently call Langston Golf Course home, and over 500 boys and girls participate in the program each year.
IT IS HEREBY RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, that the Council of the District of Columbia recognizes and honors the Historic Langston Golf Course and its unwavering commitment to the growth of golf as a popular recreational and professional sport for African Americans and its determination to breakdown racial barriers in the District.
Sec. 2. This resolution may be cited as the “Historic Langston Golf Course 75th Anniversary Recognition Resolution of 2014”.
Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.
