The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“RECOGNIZING THE CENTENNIAL OF THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS PARK” mentioning Todd Young was published in the Senate section on page S5011 on July 21.
Of the 100 senators in 117th Congress, 24 percent were women, and 76 percent were men, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
Senators' salaries are historically higher than the median US income.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
RECOGNIZING THE CENTENNIAL OF THE FREDERICK DOUGLASS PARK
Mr. YOUNG. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize and celebrate the centennial of Indianapolis' Frederick Douglass Park.
In the early 20th century, recreational opportunities for Black Americans in Indianapolis were separate and unequal. There were no public swings or slides for children to play on, no designated green spaces for communities to gather in. When the city's government took notice of the polluted and dangerous swimming holes and streams in which citizens cooled off, it constructed sanitary swimming pools, in White neighborhoods only.
There were, thankfully, Hoosiers who recognized these injustices and resolved to right them: the physician and city council member Sumner Furniss and journalist Marcus Stewart, who both lobbied for the creation of a park to accommodate the city's growing Black population. And the family of local entrepreneur Edward Claypool, who donated the land on which to build it.
Because of their efforts, in the summer of 1921, a new park opened on the northeast side of Indianapolis where African Americans were welcome. It was fittingly named for the great champion of freedom, Frederick Douglass.
A year later, a large swimming pool filled with clean water opened. There were slides, swings, and merry-go-rounds too. Next came the adjoining Douglass Park Golf Course. Originally six tomato cans in a cow pasture, it later grew to nine holes and par 34 and is one of the only golf courses in the Nation named after an African American. Tennis courts, basketball hoops, and baseball diamonds were added as well.
When the doors to other communal gathering places across Indianapolis were closed and locked, Frederick Douglass Park didn't just provide an alternative, it created a beloved institution that brought people together.
Thousands of Hoosiers spent their weekends and holidays here. It was the site of civic gatherings, political rallies, family reunions, basketball tournaments, little league championships, and jazz concerts. Across the park on a typical summer night the thump of basketballs on pavement competed with the echoes of brass instruments. It was not uncommon to see the likes of champion boxer Joe Louis playing a round of golf or future basketball legends Mel Daniels or George McGinnis working on their game.
One hundred years later, Frederick Douglass Park continues to play an important role in the civic life of our capital city and bring joy to those who call it home. It is exactly the type of public place where Americans have always engaged, interacted, and found common ground.
I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing this milestone.
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