Jackie Robinson |
Not only did Robinson’s actions lead to the integration of baseball as a whole but it also helped the Civil Rights Movement in the fight to achieve equal rights for all throughout the United States. After retiring from baseball in 1957, Robinson became a very important figure in the Civil Rights Movement. Through his experiences, not only growing up in an extremely racist and divided America but also the struggles he faced becoming the first Black baseball player in the MLB, Robinson had a great passion to fight for what was right. Martin Luther King Jr. himself recognized the work Robinson had done by saying “Don, you and Jackie will never know how easy you made my job, through what you went through on the baseball field.” This quote from the leader of the Civil Rights Movement shows the importance of the work Robinson did not only through his baseball career but also after his career. In 1954, with the case Brown V. Board of Education, the United States Supreme Court ruled that states must integrate their public schools. However, even with the Supreme Court ruling, very few states followed through and actually integrated their schools. In September of 1957, governor of Arkansas Orval Faubus used the national guard to block the entry of nine Black students who we supposed to attend Little Rock Central High (also known as the Little Rock Nine). This movement was a political stunt by Faubus solely to gain political favor in his state. After this event, President Dwight D. Eisenhower did very little. This prompted Robinson to write a letter to the President. Included in this letter, Robinson called on the federal government to support Black people in their attempts to practice their rights guaranteed to them under the constitution. Robinson was also very angry with the President over a comment Eisenhower made about the Civil Rights Movement, “You must have patience.” Some of the more impactful quotes from the letter include “When you said we must have self-respect, I wondered how we could have self-respect and remain patient considering the treatment accorded us through the years” and “17 million Negros cannot do as you suggest and wait for the hearts of men to change. We want to enjoy now the rights that we feel we are entitled to as Americans. This we cannot do unless we pursue aggressive goals which all other Americans achieved over 150 years ago.” These two excerpts from Robinson’s letter show how fed up he was with the government. He (along with the entire Black community) was tired of waiting and wanted to see actions taken by the government immediately. More specifically, Robinson wanted to see President Eisenhower deal with the Little Rock Nine situation and Governor Faubus. This would send a message to the Black community that the government is determined to provide them with the freedoms they are entitled to under the constitution. The letter written by Jackie Robinson to President Eisenhower urging him to take action and support the Black community (Courtesy of National Archives) The letters did not stop after the one written to President Eisenhower however. Robinson wrote letters highlighting his frustrations to every president from 1956 through 1972. Through his high profile status from his baseball career, all of his work in the fight for equality was amplified. He was very active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization in which he was eventually elected to their board of directors. He also founded the Jackie Robinson Construction Company in 1970 that focused on building low-income housing for minorities. The one thing that stands out about Jackie Robinson was that even after his incredible career in baseball, he continued to fight for what he believed in, equality for all Black people.
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On April 15th, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first Black man to play in the MLB. This game ended a 78 year time period in which the MLB was comprised of solely white men. The game between Robinson’s team, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves was played at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York in front of over 25,000 fans. However, there were many people in the crowd that did not approve of a Black player in the MLB. Robinson faced racism from not only fans and players of opposing teams, but also some of his teammates. He had trash thrown at him, racial slurs directed at him, and was intentionally hit while batting on many occasions. Players on his team even requested to be traded so they would not have to be on the same team as Robinson. Despite all of this negativity, Robinson continued to play for the Dodgers until 1957 when he retired after being traded to the Giants and turned his attention to fighting for equality in the Civil Rights Movement. Jackie Robinson opened the door for many other highly talented Black baseball players to join MLB teams. In the months after his debut, other teams began to hire Black players to their teams. While it was still very rare to see non-white baseball players in the MLB in the late 1940s and early 1950s, very slowly, baseball was becoming less segregated than ever before. Players such as Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Larry Doby, and Hank Thomson were among Robinson as being some of the earliest Black players to be involved in the MLB. April 15th has now been designated "Jackie Robinson Day" by the MLB. To honor the life of Jackie Robinson, all players on every team wears the jersey number 42. Other than this day, the number 42 is retired and no player is allowed to wear it.
(Courtesy of Dodger Insider, Los Angeles Wave, and Mets Merized) |
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