Legacy, Restoration & Negro League Football | The Green Laundress

🏈 Legacy, Restoration, and the Power of Remembering: From The Green Laundress to Negro League Football

There’s a thread that connects everything I do — from creating eco-friendly cleaning solutions to restoring the untold stories of Black excellence in American sports. That thread is care.

At The Green Laundress, care has always meant more than clean homes. It’s about honoring what we love, protecting what sustains us, and restoring what’s been neglected or forgotten. Recently, that same spirit of restoration led me to a different kind of work — one that takes me off the laundry line and onto the 50-yard line of history.

A Forgotten Legacy on the Gridiron

In a recent interview with ESHE Magazine, I had the chance to share my journey with Negro League Football, LLC — a historical and educational initiative I founded to uncover and preserve the forgotten story of Black professional and semi-professional football.

The story began with a family revelation. My grandfather — a man I knew as a trailblazing CPA, jazz musician, WWII veteran, and Wharton graduate — was also a quarterback for the Harrisburg Trojans in 1941, the year they won the Negro World Championship.

That discovery opened a door to a world I never knew existed: a league of Black athletes who played for love, pride, and community when opportunity was denied. Like the Negro Baseball Leagues, Negro League Football emerged in the 1930s and ’40s after Black players were excluded from the NFL. Across the country, teams like the Harrisburg Trojans, Chicago Blackhawks, and Seattle’s Ubangi Blackhawks built thriving local followings, proving that excellence doesn’t need permission to exist.

Their story isn’t just about sports — it’s about resilience, ingenuity, and restoration.

Restoration, Whether in History or Home

When I first created The Green Laundress, it was because I wanted to restore health and safety to my home after discovering my daughter’s sensitivity to traditional cleaners. I learned that “clean” should never come at the cost of well-being.

That same belief carries into my work with Negro League Football. History, like the environment, needs caretakers — people willing to scrub away years of neglect to reveal what’s been buried underneath. Both require patience, intention, and a deep respect for what came before.

Just as I’m passionate about eco-conscious living and reimagining what it means to “clean,” I’m equally passionate about reclaiming stories that cleanse our understanding of who we are.

Why It Matters

These men — the players of Negro League Football — weren’t just athletes. They were community builders, dreamers, and innovators who helped shape the future of American sports. They created opportunity out of exclusion and proved that excellence, like justice, always finds a way.

Their legacy reminds us that preservation — whether environmental or cultural — is an act of love. When we choose to restore what’s been lost, we don’t just protect the past; we build a more honest and inclusive future.

So as The Green Laundress continues to grow, I carry this same mission across everything I do: clean living, clean history, clean truth.

You can read the full ESHE Magazine interview. Erica Ahmed, Founder of Negro League Football, LLC | A Historical Excursion – ESHE Magazine INC. ™ and learn more about the ongoing work of Negro League Football, LLC at The Negro League Football.

 In the End

Legacy, like the environment, needs caretakers. It needs hands willing to polish what’s been ignored and voices willing to tell what’s been silenced. Because whether it’s cleaning a home or clearing the dust off forgotten history — restoration is a radical act of love.