a crusade at Griffith in 1960, preaching from a platform erected near second base. Two choir stands, each accommodating 500 singers, were set up along the foul lines. Gospel's first superstar, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, was married in Griffith Stadium in 1951 - in what was a legally binding PR stunt - in front of some 20,000 paying guests. Status in racial disputes Griffith Stadium was located in LeDroit Park, a historically black area of Washington since the Civil War. The neighborhood was home to many black working-class people, but also a class of young professional African-American "elites" including Langston Hughes. Duke Ellington worked at Griffith selling hot dogs during his childhood. Griffith Stadium was not officially segregated, although an unofficial policy early after the 1920s expansion was that blacks sat in the right field pavilion. Calvin Griffith claimed that the segregated seats were a result of "colored preachers ... asking Mr. Griffith to put aside a section for the black people." Shortly after the end of World War I, after a report that several white women had been raped by a black man, a large group of whites seeking revenge marched toward the Shaw neighborhood. However, a conflict was avoided after these men came upon "a group of two thousand armed black men", who had been prepared and gotten their weapons at Griffith Stadium, chosen as a meeting place because of its landmark status in the community. Senators management, seemingly uneasy about racial matters, were latecomers to integrating their team, adding their first black player, outfielder Carlos Paula, in 1954. The segregationist policy of the Redskins was more overt and controversial. In October 1957, a group of blacks picketed multiple times in front of Griffith Stadium, protesting the lack of black players on the team. It would be five more years, along with government intervention, before the Redskins finally began employing black players, the last NFL team to do so. Final years In 1955, longtime Senators owner Clark Griffith died, and his nephew, Calvin Griffith, took over. Fewer and fewer fans were coming to the ballpark, due in large part to the St. Louis Browns' move to Baltimore in 1954, which meant Baltimoreans no longer had to come to Washington to see games. Because of this, Calvin Griffith developed an interest in moving the Senators to Minnesota. Attendance may not have been the sole reason Griffith wanted to move, however;