Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Racism in baseball essay
Racism in baseball the jackie robinson story
Jackie Robinson and racial discrimination
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Racism in baseball essay
Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Rosa are the names famously and commonly associated with the integration of the African Americans and Caucasians. Even though they were all great figures, Jackie Robinson played an important role, also. He helped pave a way for integration. Jackie Robinson’s determination and fight lead him to become one of the greatest iconic figures of mankind with highlights of integrity and excellence. Before Jackie Robinson became the legend and civil rights difference maker that he is known as today, he lived through hardship like other African Americans during his time.
On January 31, 1919, Mallie Robinson gave birth to Jackie Roosevelt Robinson in a small rural area, Cairo, Georgia. He was born on a farm because his parents were sharecroppers and was the youngest of five children. Not long after he was born, Jackie and his family relocated to Pasadena, CA. His mother struggled to raise him and his siblings after Jackie’s father abandoned the family in 1920. She had to work various jobs to support him. Jackie and his family were the only African Americans on their block, and because of the prejudice that they always encountered, their bond as a family grew strong. Jackie was limited in sports as a child because he was excluded from recreational activities as a youth due to the color of his skin.
The young Jackie Robinson began to build his legacy as a student athlete at John Muir High School. Mack, Jackie’s brother, recognized his athletic talents and inspired Jackie to pursue his interest and fascination in sports. Jackie Robinson lettered in four sports: basketball, football, track, and baseball. Also, he was a member of the tennis team, and he won a championship. During his tenure in high schoo...
... middle of paper ...
...ted, the trail-blazing that he did, the barriers that he broke down did not enter into the decision. He was rated and examined solely as a freshman player in the big leagues -- on the basis of his hitting, his running, his defensive play, his team value (Corcoran)."
Works Cited
Chamberlain, Gaius. "Jackie Robinson." 8 December 2011. Great Black Heros. 19 March 2014.
Corcoran, Cliff. "Inside Baseball." Sports Illustrated 15 Apr. 2013. Article. 20 Mar. 2014.
Foundation, The Jackie Robinson. The Jackie Robinson Foundation. 2011. 19 March 2014.
Henry, Patrick. "Jackie Robinson: Athlete And American Par Excellence." Virginia Quarterly Review 73.2 (1997): 189-204. Academic Search Premier. 1 Feb. 2014.
Knee, Stuart. "Jim Crow Strikes Out: Branch Rickey And The Struggle For Integration In American Baseball." 2003. 71-87. Academic Search Premier. 1 Feb. 2014.
Soon Jackie Robinson proved himself worthy of playing for the Dodgers. He had to adjust to some new trials and always remember to not show emotion. Jackie had to learn play first base instead of short stop because that was the teams strong point in Peewee Reese. He also could not react to anything. Teammates, other players, and fans will greatly test him, but he must be strong.
America’s pastime has been complicated in the last couple centuries, and integration has been a big key in the game of baseball. Like most of America in the 1940’s, baseball was segregated, with whites playing in the Major League system and African-Americans playing in the Negro Leagues. There were many factors that made whites and blacks come together, including World War II. Integration caused many downs in the time period, but as baseball grew and grew it was one of the greatest accomplishments in the history. It was hard to find the right black man to start this, they needed a man with baseball abilities and a man who didn’t need to fight back.
Jackie Robinson decided to fight to be the first African American to integrate the Major League Baseball (MLB). His autobiography states he “was forced to live with snubs rebuffs and rejections” ( Robinson). This quote shows that he was treated unfairly and disrespectfully. In Robinson’s autobiography it also states that Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier and created equal oppurtunity proving that a “sport can’t be called national if blacks are barred from it”
Jackie Robinson changed the way baseball is looked at by Americans. Also, he broke a huge barrier in American History. Robinson helped get rid of segregation. He also, is down as one on of the most respected men in baseball history. Not only a wonderful ball player, but also a wonderful man who went through so much and helped create a path for current and future African American baseball players.
Jackie Robinson, born Jack Roosevelt Robinson, is known for being the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball. He was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia as the grandson of a slave. He was the youngest of five children and at six months old his father left them. At this time, because it was so hard for African-Americans in the south, his mother Mallie Robinson decided to move them to Pasadena, California where it was easier for African-Americans to live and find jobs.
Whether it was on the football field, on the basketball court, or out on the baseball field, Robinson encountered quite a bit of success wherever he went. (cite) Despite the talents of many African American baseball players, many were deemed inferior to their white counterparts. The sense of inferiority led many baseball players and owners of the teams in the Negro leagues to adjust to the status quo, however, Robinson was not one to simply seek to fulfill the status quo. Robinson was unwilling to conform with what mainstream society tried to force him to conform with, he constantly told his teammates that they should always be ready, someday one of them would be signed to break the color barrier and play in organized ball (cite to pg 48). Unlike many of his peers, he felt a different calling in the sport of baseball.
All groups noted above didn’t have a place in this era of baseball; they were on the other side of the race barrier. With the growing of the sport arose a lack of a cheap talent pool. Segregation hindered the ability to introduce cheap talent from other races. The management of teams was looking for a solution in order to widen the talent pool for their respective leagues. People began to notice talent in the “American colonies” like Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines; it seemed as if everywhere there was an American presence there were talented ball players. Even before America was involved in these nations, America had begun to envision the game as intercultural exchange that would build relations. The decision to include Latinos into the leagues allowed an expansion of the talent pool while still barring African Americans from participating in organized baseball. A racial structure established during Jim Crow upholds the notion of a color line as an exclusionary measure to prevent the influence of blacks into the game that represents American
"Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.
Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson were two very different people. Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in a small town named Cairo, Georgia. He had a mother named Mallie Robinson that single-handedly raised Jackie and his four other siblings1. Jackie Robinson’s father, Jerry Robinson, had abandoned his family when Jackie Robinson was a very young boy. His family had grown up as the only African American family on the block, meaning they encountered prejudiced on a daily basis. This strengthened the family unity and may have been a major reason for Jackie wanting to change segregation laws. At a young age his family moved to Southern California, more specifically to Pasadena, California, a city only about 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. Once Jackie was there he began to grow a love for sports. He attended John Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College where he excelled in 4 sports, track, football, baseball, and basketball. He was named the regions MVP2 in baseball in 1938. He continued on and attended The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He was the first person to win varsity letters in 4 sports. He eventually left UCLA before he graduated and went to go play semi-professional football in Hawaii with the Honolulu Bears. His season was cut short when the United States began fighting in World War II. He served in the United...
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play Major League Baseball. This was not an easy task for him to do. People judged him and didn’t like him by the color of his skin. Jackie Robinson said “The hate mail piled up” (Robinson). That shows that no one cared to give him a chance to play in the Major League. The innocence of young kids had a great inspiration on Jackie Robinson because they didn’t care about his color they just wanted him to play good. Jackie Robinson was “proud to be a part of a significant breakthrough” (Robinson) in breaking the color barrier. Even though Jackie Robinson has been through
Jackie was born and raised in Cairo, Georgia 1919. He was raised by his single mother Mallie along with is four siblings. He was the first person at UCLA to obtain a varsity letter in baseball, basketball, football, and track. He married Rachel Isum who he met at UCLA. He however had to leave school due to financial reasons and decided to enlist in the military, but was honorably discharged due to being court-martialed due to his actions against racial discrimination. Jackie played one season in 1945 with the Kansas City Monarchs leading to further achievements in his professional baseball career.
Although Jackie Robinson was not the best African-American baseball player of his time, his attitude and ability to handle racist harassment led the way for the rest of his race to play Major League Baseball, amongst other sports. Being accepted into professional sports also helped African-Americans become more easily accepted into other aspects of life. Jackie's impact in the world for the black population is enormous.
To the average person, in the average American community, Jackie Robinson was just what the sports pages said he was, no more, no less. He was the first Negro to play baseball in the major leagues. Everybody knew that, but to see the real Jackie Robinson, you must de-emphasize him as a ball player and emphasize him as a civil rights leader. That part drops out, that which people forget. From his early army days, until well after his baseball days, Robinson had fought to achieve equality among whites and blacks. "Jackie acted out the philosophy of nonviolence of Martin Luther King Jr., before the future civil rights leader had thought of applying it to the problem of segregation in America"(Weidhorn 93). Robinson was an avid member of the NAACP and helped recruit members because of his fame from baseball. Jackie had leadership qualities and the courage to fight for his beliefs. Unwilling to accept the racism he had run into all his life, he had a strong need to be accepted at his true worth as a first-class citizen. Robinson was someone who would work for a cause - that of blacks and of America - as well as for himself and his team.
Simon, Scott. 2002. Jackie Robinson and the integration of Baseball. Turning points. Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons.
Whitaker, Matthew C.. African American icons of sport: triumph, courage, and excellence. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2008.