The rise of the legend Jackie Robinson!
I. Introduction
A. Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to ever play in the Major League Baseball.
B. Many people don’t know the great impact on society that Robinson generated in the 20th century.
C. It has been sixty eight years since Jackie Robinson smash the color barrier in baseball.
II. Thesis
A. The legacy of Jackie Robinson was that he left open roads to minorities to be able to play in MLB. Jackie played at the time that racism still existed which means that teams were isolated and with the help of branch Rickey, Robinson could move forward making history eliminating the barrier between White-Americans and African-American. III. Body
A. Jackie Robinson was born in 1919 in Georgia. Jackie grew up in poverty and was raised only by his mother because his father left the family. He played many sports as basketball, football but baseball was his favorite. In 1942 Jackie decided to join the US Army, which later on he was sentence to a military court due to decline to sit in the back of a bus. By the 20th century segregation still existed. According to Steven F. Lawson, Segregation was a system which divided African-Americans from White-Americans
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The African-American player caught the attention of Branch Rickey. However Branch Rickey was the official manager of the Brooklyn dodgers. Rickey wanted to turn the tables in Baseball and combine Whites-Americans and African-Americans to play together as a family. Rickey convinced Robinson to play and be the first African-American in the Major Leagues. In 1945 he signed his first contract with The Montreal Royals with a condition that he needs to manage his attitude and fury because if not, the media will eat him alive and there will be a battle on the field. “I realize what I am going into” he says. I realize what it means to me and to my race and to baseball too. I’m very happy for this chance and I can only say I’ll do my best to make the grade (Stone
Branch Rickey was interested in Robinson for two reasons. One, being his talent, of course. Two, Branch Rickey wanted to make a change that will affect the MLB forever. Branch Rickey wanted to assist Jackie Robinson in breaking the color barrier. Jackie was soon tried on the Montreal Royals for the International Leagues. During this period of time, Jackie Robinson of course attracted a huge amount of attention, both good and bad. Of course, the white citizens were furious and continually frustrated with this “disgrace” to baseball. Although the reactions of Caucasians were negative, African Americans were very supportive and encouraged.
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.
Branch Rickey had been around baseball all his life. He was a player, coach, manager, and team owner for over sixty years. Branch Rickey was nominated into baseball’s hall of fame and on his plaque it mentions his signing of Jackie Robinson. Branch Rickey chose Robinson because he knew he would be able to take all the abuse and keep his cool. Also, he knew Robinson was an outstanding ball player. Branch Rickey has always wanted to integrate baseball since early in his career. Rickey was looking for a strong person who would be able to take the public scrutiny, avoid confrontation, and also a talented ball player. Rickey set his eyes on Robinson because he has had experience in integrating other sports. Robinson attended UCLA and lettered in four other sports.
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.
The time came on April 15, 1947 when the man who would change all this stepped up to bat marking the first time an African American played in the major leagues. Jackie Robinson was the man and the hero of baseball to the black people. With much hope Jackie Robinson and the African American race marked the beginning of the struggle for the ultimate goal which was equality. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. He was the son of a sharecropper and life wasn’t ea...
Rickey to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers organization was an all-white team until
During the Civil Rights period in which Jackie Robinson was active, there was a color barrier between races in baseball. Jackie Robinson and the Civil Rights Movement
Brave people are not afraid of anything, and Jackie Robinson was one of the bravest persons to walk on this earth. He was the first African American player to play in a all white league: the MLB. He broke the color barrier for baseball. Jackie played many sports when he was younger, and that is what started his career.
Today you will learn about the life of Jackie Robinson and how he was the first black person to go to the major leagues in professional baseball.Born January 31st,1919 Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was the youngest of five siblings. His dad left when he was just six months old. He followed his older brother Mack in athletics.Mack went to the 1936 olympics and won a medal.
He told himself that his son was going to remember him...and he hoped that he would only remember good and happy things. Jackie was offered a spot on the Brooklyn Dodgers team. Jackie had been a part of many black baseball leagues, but this would be the first white team he would be on. Branch Rickey (the president of the baseball team) knew that Jackie Robinson would be the man for the job. Rickey made sure that Jackie wouldn’t lose his temper at the first sight or racial abuse.
Most people only remember or know Robinson from his incredible baseball career ,but little people know that he was an all star in many sport.Throughout his track career he managed to jump a twenty five feet, six and a half inches, just before he helped his high school team win the championship. Robinson attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), after he accepted a scholarship from them(Noble Sports Figures). He played four sports in college: baseball, basketball, football, and track. Some days he would have to go from one practice to the next due to the overlapping of the sports he was playing. Leading the nation Robinson rushed for an average of twelve yards per carry during his freshman season at UCLA. Not only did he play all four sports,but he managed to letter in all four of them and became the first person at UCLA to do it. His best and most popular sport, baseball he was one of the best to ever play the game. After he was drafted into the war and was discharged from the army, he joined the Kansas City Monarchs (“Jackie Robinson” Notable). Throughout his career with them, he played shortstop and was led by their all star pitcher Satchel Paige. The Dodgers manager Branch Rickey, was watching Robinson, and eventually offered him a spot on their minor league team. It was not an easy process Rickey had to make sure Robinson was prepared so
Jackie Robinson overcame many struggles in life such as being included in the civil rights movement, facing discrimination, and he achieved being the first black man in major league baseball. He was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia on Hadley Ferry Road. It is a blue-collar town of about 10,000 people. Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the major leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Even though he achieved this major goal he still had trouble getting there. He and his siblings were raised by his single mother. Jackie attended Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College. He was a great athlete and played many sports. He played football, basketball, track, and of course baseball. He left school in 1941, worked as an athletic director and played semiprofessional football for the Honolulu Bears before being drafted to the Army in 1942. While he was in the army he became close friends with Joe Louis. The heavyweight used his popularity to protest about the delayed entry of black soldiers. Two years later he got the honor to be second lieutenant in 1943. After an accident where he refused to sit in the back of an unsegregated bus, military police arrested Robinson. A duty officer requested this and then later he requested that Jackie should be court martialed. Since this happened Jackie was not allowed to be deployed overseas to the World War II. He never saw combat during the war. Jackie left the Army with an honorable discharge.
For a long time, it was assumed that blacks were not allowed to play in the Major Leagues simply because they had not for so long. When Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the commissioner of baseball at the time, declared that there was no rule preventing integration of the Major Leagues, the idea of an African-American joining the league was realized for the first time by a lot of people. In 1943, Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the time, had an idea though to be outrageous by many during that period. He considered signing some black players to make up for the wartime shortage of talent. He narrowed down the list of prospects, searching for the best player to integrate baseball. The likely choices for talent would have been Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson. Rickey, however, wanted not only a star but a person who could deal with the harassment from the public, some teammates, and the overall opposition. Knowing of Jackie's talent and his hate for segregation, Rickey set up an interview hoping he could convince Robinson to sign a contract. When Rickey told Robinson why he had been brought to see him, Jackie's reaction was a combination of several emotions. "I was thrilled, scared, and excited.
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.