In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black athlete to play Major League Baseball and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers for 10 years. Robinson is also known for vocalizing his civil rights activism.
Before taking off in his baseball career, he played football, basketball, track, and baseball. In the Pasadena region of California where he grew up, he was called the Most Valuable Player for baseball. Robinson received inspiration from his older brother Matthew, who won a silver medal in the 200 meter dash at the Olympic Games in Berlin.
Although Robinson moved onto UCLA, where he became the first-ever student to receive varsity letters for four sports, he had to leave to Hawaii due to his family's financial state. There, he played football for the Honolulu Bears but was forced to stop when he was drafted for World War II.
While on the battlefield, Robinson demonstrated his fight against racism. In July 1944, Robinson was riding on a bus on the base and sat beside an officer's white wife. When he was asked to sit farther back, he argued with the bus driver, refused, and was court-martialed. The court ended up acquitting the charges against Robinson.
Later, the Brooklyn Dodgers manager Branch Rickey signed a contract with Robinson to allow him to play on the Major Leagues. Rickey knew that this would be a "great experiment" in baseball since it would break the norm that people of color didn't play in major league baseball.
Robinson received both enthusiasm and threats upon joining the Brooklyn Dodgers. He didn't let backlash stop him and showed that through his incredible skill. He received the first Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 and in 1949, he won the national league's Most Valuable Player Award.
Once he retired from the Dodgers, Robinson became a sportscaster and was active in the NAACP and other civil rights groups. He died of a heart attack in 1972.
Jackie Robinson has definitely created a legacy for himself. A scholarship called the "Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarship" was created in his honor to help minority students get a college education. Additionally, as of 1997, no player on any big-league teams can have the number "42" in order to remember him.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/jackie-robinson
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jackie-Robinson
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/jackie-robinson-known-for-breaking-baseballs-color-barrier-was-an-amazing-athlete/2019/04/17/9907b658-5628-11e9-814f-e2f46684196e_story.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/04/the-real-story-of-baseballs-integration-that-you-wont-see-in-i-42-i/274886/
Jackie Robinson has created a very important legacy that I think you captured very well in this post. I liked that you included the story about his refusal to move seats on the bus because it shows how Robinson influenced the civil rights movement in many ways. Even today his legacy is important; this one article quotes "I think the Obama campaign is linked to Jackie…both men finding enormous appeal among younger people not yet locked into old societal limitations." I thought it was an interesting comparison!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.solipsis.com/jackierobinson/legacy.html
I think this is a great post as it illustrate how even though Jackie Robinson was very talented, he also had to show composure, toughness, and intelligence in order to deal with the hate he would get from fans and other players. Jackie Robinson had all these qualities, as he grew up in a pre-dominantly white community, attended college at UCLA, and was drafted into the army during World War II. The Dodgers recognized this and selected Jackie Robinson to play on their team. This was a big risk from them, as it could have anger their fan base, other teams, and their own players. It was also a risk for Robinson, knowing that if he failed, it would be a long time before African-Americans could enter the league again. By being the first African-American to play in the major leagues, Robinson broke barriers and started a shift in pro sports.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.crf-usa.org/black-history-month/jackie-robinson
Something I found extremely interesting about Jackie Robinson's civil rights activism was his willingness to disobey norms and laws even before his road to popularity. From a young age, Robinson stood up to segregation and Jim Crow laws, often disobeying segregationist rules in theaters or lunch areas. Following his success in baseball, Robinson also often criticized officials of racism and helped black teammates gain equal access in the sport. Though he was both criticized and commended by the media for his efforts, Robinson brought the concepts of civil activism and civil rights to a scene that often denies African Americans rights.
ReplyDeletehttps://time.com/4282838/jackie-robinson-legacy/