Jackie Robinson: athlete, social activist, hero. These are just some of the words people use to describe Jackie. Robinson was the first person to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, at the time officially designated a white man’s sport. The blacks and whites played in separate leagues but Branch Rickey, vice president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted to integrate Major League Baseball. At this time in the 1940s the Unites States was still segregated and the Jim Crow Laws still reigned heavily in the south. Integration didn’t start until 1948 when Truman signed Executive Order 9981 which integrated the military. This didn’t occur until after Robinson took the field as the first African-American to play in the major leagues. …show more content…
Jackie was a phenomenal athlete for young kids to look up to. After the start of World War II he served in the military from 1942 to 1944. After the war he returned to his love for baseball, playing in the Black major leagues. He was chosen by Branch Rickey, vice president of the Brooklyn dodgers, to help integrate the Major Leagues. Rickey hated segregation just as much as Robinson and wanted to change things “Rickey had once seen a Black college player turned away from a hotel… Rickey never forgot seeing this player crying because he was denied a place to lay his weary head just because of the color of his skin” (Mackenzie). He was finally able to do something about segregation and help change baseball and the United States for the better. It wasn’t that all the teams were racist and didn’t want a black player but when the major league teams had an away game they would rent out the stadium to the black teams for them to play at. And the executives of teams didn’t want to loose the money that they were making off of the black teams. “League owners would lose significant rental revenue” (“Breaking”). He soon signed with the all-white Montreal Royals a farm team for the Dodgers. Robinson had an outstanding start with the Royals, “leading the International League with a .349 batting average and .985 fielding percentage” (Robinson). After Robinson’s outstanding year he was promoted to the Dodgers he played his first game on
Jackie Robinson was one of the most historically well known people in the civil rights movement. So as the first man to integrate major league baseball, Jackie Robinson had a game changing impact on the way the game was played. Having the courage to fight for what is right, Jackie broke the imaginary color barrier that has covered major league baseball for years. Through his resiliency and tenaciousness in the face of seemingly unconquerable odds, Jackie Robinson set the course for African Americans to continue the expansion for equality and true freedom while he was becoming one of the greatest Major League baseball players in history.
Jackie Robinson- a revolutionary baseball player did not stop simply with changing sports, he fought in all aspects for the civil rights that he believed African Americans should have. “His courage and bravery played a major role in the history of integration, both on the field and throughout American society, and no history of the civil rights movement would be complete without noting Robinson’s major role… he was one of the movement’s strongest voices” (Gates). Jackie was a monumental and impactful voice in the Civil Rights Movement, he spoke out to the public and made his opinion and dream known that he believed African Americans deserved equal rights and status with whites in America. When his virtuous friend, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Georgia, Robinson asked Presidential Candidate Nixon to intervene and release King from jail (Gates). Also, Robinson corresponded with people like Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon to try and further civil rights (Anderson and Mosor). He was also arrested while serving in the army for refusing to move to the back of a bus and then was placed in martial court with all odds stacked against him, Robinson surprisingly won the case and was not convicted of the two charges for disobedience (PBS). Winning the case proved that Jackie
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in the MLB. Back then many people's point of view about African Americans was that they had some things, but the things should be worse than what the things white people had, and because of that he was proud yet uneasy because he would get a lot of hate for playing, and he did. The thing is he didn’t only get hate, but he also got threats against him and his family to physically harm him,“The hate mail piled up. There were threats against me and my family and even out-and-out attempts at physical harm to me.” Being in the MLB was hard and he could’ve given up, but he didn’t. Jackie Robinson stayed strong and he changed our point of view about African Americans not doing things that only white people could do and he helped our country change for the better
The legacy of Jackie Robinson goes beyond the April 15, 1947 afternoon at Ebbets Field, when the Brooklyn Dodger infielder became the first black in the 20th century to play baseball in the major leagues. He changed the sport, and he changed the attitude of a lot of people in this country, Jackie Robinson fought for all the people that were fortunate, a lot of them are, especially the minority guys, to be able to play in the major leagues and the impact on the people of color today.
Jackie Robinson’s success on and off the field created a strong civil rights advocate that African Americans could look up to. Jackie Robinson was the first African American baseball player to play in the Major League since the 19th century. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1947 and was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. There is no doubt that he was a phenomenal baseball player, and his accomplishments paved the way for future African American athletes. Jackie Robinson was a successful civil rights advocate and contributed to the Civil Rights movement by paving the way for athletes of color to participate in sports, risking his health for the benefit of other African Americans, and standing strong in the face of adversity.
People throughout history, who are the first to do, make, or renovate existing ideas have been known as pioneers. Two well known pioneers in history are Jackie Robinson and Thomas Cole. Jackie Robinson diversified the game of baseball, by being the first African American to play Major League Baseball. Robinson was a big inspiration to many people around the country,and nation. Thomas Cole pushed the limits by creating landscape paintings unlike any seen before, and creating the Hudson River School, which was a group of landscape painters founded in 1801.
Jackie Robinson forced individuals to look at their prejudices and helped them realize they needed to make changes. The idea of the general population was that baseball should remain segregated. Most coaches and baseball fans thought there were not any black players who were good enough to play professionally, and were afraid that the white community would not pay money to see Negro’s play baseball. Jackie’s first year in baseball put those poor excuses to rest. In his first season, Robinson led the league with a .349 batting average and scored 113 runs in 124 games. He had forty stolen bases, which was the second highest total in the league, and he was the lead second basemen in fielding. During his first major league game, Jackie reached first base on an error in the seventh inning and scored the game winning run. Also in his first season, Robinson hit twelve home runs and helped the Dodgers win the National League pennant. Jackie was determined to show the nation that black people could play baseball just as well as the white baseball players. He didn’t just prove that blacks can play professional sports in America, but that black people could excel in professional sports as well. Robinson became “a hero not only to blacks and all baseball fans, but to every American, who valued justice. The door was open”(Rappoport & Wilner, p.22). Jackie’s gift for the game helped open up the conversations of individuals that would lead to a lasting change in America as we know it. People began to realize that the color of your skin doesn’t affect who you are on the inside or how you function on the outside. Awareness in the civil right movement encouraged more people to try to accomplish their dreams and goals without racial boundaries. The white community saw that if blacks could be successful in sports, they could also be successful in
Seventy years ago, Jack Roosevelt Robinson became the first black player in Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson was an important figure in the Civil Rights Movement. His greatest accomplishment, however, was integrating baseball. He made many Americans excited about it because he was the first African American to ever play in Major League Baseball. Also, he did many things for the Civil Rights Movement. The integration of baseball set off a reaction of different movements to desegregate places like schools, public facilities, and the army.
Jackie Robinson was an important part of baseball for the time and moving forward. Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier in baseball without people liking it. Jackie Robinson changed the game of baseball by his race, baseball talent, and attitude.
Determined, hard worker, and eager are three words that people think of in connection to Jackie Robinson. Many people know that Jackie Robinson was the first African-American MLB player, but he was so much more. As an African-American, Jackie Robinson showed America that through hard work, determination, and controlling yourself you can do anything. He left a legacy as a MLB player, Civil Rights speaker, and a member of the NAACP.
Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play in the modern MLB. Branch Rickey signed Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945 because he realized there were many talented athletes in the Negro League. Robinson was on the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1947 to 1956. Rickey knew Robinson would get lots of booing and insults on the field, but he knew Robinson could control his anger. The year he entered the Major Leagues the threats, insults and abuse got worse. He didn’t let it get to him and that year, his batting average was .297 and scored 127 runs.
Jackie robinson was a important and influential figure in history that had a positive impact on the world because little did he know he’d be the first black athlete to play in the Major League Baseball in the 20th century. Jackie robinson was Born on January 31,1919 in Cairo georgia, to Jerry and Mallie Robinson who were both sharecroppers. Jackie was the youngest of the five children in the family. One of jackie robinson downfall In 1920, after his father abandoned his family, they moved to Pasadena, California, where his mother took sundry jobs to sustain her family. Due to this jackie robinson proceed to stay in school, He graduated from Washington Junior High School in 1935. He was sent to the John Muir High School where his athletic talents
Baseball has been one of the most popular sports since the 1700s. Over the years baseball was a segregated team. This changed once Jackie Robinson joined the major leagues. He was a well-known African American baseball player. “On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the so-called color barrier by becoming the first African American to play in Major League Baseball” (Worker’s World, 2007). This created some controversy over the years. With Robinson playing in the major leagues, this helped change the color barrier. His life before baseball, the Negro Leagues, and signing with the Dodgers really made an impact on the success of his baseball career.
Jackie was in love with sports and was quite good at the ones he played. Jackie was a star basketball player the best football player on his team and even was an olympic broad jumper. Jackie even lettered in 2 sports, but baseball, he started playing for a farm team named the montreal royals. After about 2 months jackie was recognized for his talent, and branch rickey (the president of the brooklyn dodgers) didn’t agree with segregation and wanted to give robinson a chance, later after watching jackie he agreed to sign jackie robinson to the brooklyn dodgers in 1947. He was also named rookie of the year and national league MVP in the same year and a world series champ in 1955. He inspired people to be involved by proving that blacks can do
Jackie Robinson was a major influence when it came down to breaking the racial barrier in sports, he inspired many people to fight for the equality that African Americans truly deserved. Robinson had many influences during his career in baseball that had helped him break this barrier but there was one man that changed the entire sport of baseball, his name was Branch Rickey. Rickey was an American sports executive, he was hired to The Brooklyn Dodgers to take position as President. He then wanted Robinson to join the Dodgers but with Jackie being the first African American to join the MLB, he would have to learn to endure all of the hate that was came with the price of the first African American to ever be a part of the Major League of Baseball. Branch Rickey then invited Robinson to his