Jackie Robinson Essay

In the early 1900s, slavery still shaped the South, especially in Georgia. African Americans faced micro-aggressions, including the Jim Crow Laws that separated Blacks and Whites in the United States. In a country where liberty, freedom, and equality has been put into place, when in fact blacks still demanded these rights after the 14th and 15th amendment was added on to the constitution. Additionally, those amendments were added in the late 1800s, which the 14th amendment stated: “All person born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of wherein the reside…” (Robinson 24), so the system of democracy has proven that the power has not been fairly used. However, in

This era was also known as the “Golden Age of Sports”, no black person could compete with white professional, skill, and business men (Simon 41). The real question was, “What did the controversy surrounding Robinson reveal about the values and perceptions of that century” (Simon 39)? How did Robinson evolve into his true identity and establish his primary goal in life? Jack Roosevelt Robinson known as the great Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 by a nearby town of Cairo in Grady County in Southern Georgia (Rampersad 10). Jackie Robinson’s parents were Jerry Robinson and Mallie Robinson who were sharecroppers on a white man’s plantation, James Madison Sasser (Rampersad 10). The disparity of

Although, he accomplished this, his primary goal was bigger than baseball and it was to challenge Democracy in America deeper. Baseball for him was just a stepping stone to accomplish which was far more important, human rights. As Jackie would put it, “Baseball is only a pastime, a sport, an entertainment, a way of blowing off steam. But appealing to every color, race, sex, or political opinion” (Robinson 24). He engaged himself in organizations like, NAACP (National Association of Advanced Colored People) when he retired from baseball in 1957 (Robinson 25). He became one of the primary spokespersons and fundraisers. By the same token, he immersed himself in the civil rights movement during the early 1960s as an ardent supporter of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., raised funds for SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee), and marched in many of Martin’s