Blacks in Baseball Throughout the years, there has been an increase of African Americans in baseball. Baseball, also known as “Americas Pastime” is a sport that is many Americans favorite out of them all. Although many Americans love this sport, a great majority of them don’t know the rich history that it entails. For example, most people think Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in the professionals with the whites, but this isn’t true. Baseball was a black man’s sport before Jackie Robinson started playing. The thing that Jackie Robinson did was that he made opportunities for other African Americans to play the sport that they love. Although many people go to Major League Baseball games each year, most of them don’t …show more content…
He went to college at UCLA where he worked in a big stone building called Kerchoff Hall, a student lounge. Jackie Robinson was very involved in his academic studies as well as his sports. He played every sport in college and was very talented in football. He was a very obedient student because he was always in bed asleep by midnight on the night before a game. Jackie Robinson was also very involved in his church. He taught Sunday school at a local church so he didn’t have very much time to socialize with girls, until he laid his eyes on Rachel Isum. She was a freshman at UCLA who was also extremely intelligent. Jackie’s friend, Ray Bartlett, was the one that helped Jackie build up the courage to go and talk to her. In 1941, Jackie received a letter to play football for the Honolulu Bears. He worked on a construction crew during the week for $100 so they played games on Sundays. When Jackie was on the boat on his way home, the attacks on Pearl Harbor occurred. This meant that Jackie would be enlisted into the United States Army. While he was in the Army, his future wife was still at UCLA studying nursing. While Jackie was in the Army, he had an incident just like Rosa Parks’. He refused to move seats on a bus and went to trial almost getting kicked out of the Army. When he finally got out of the Army, he got the opportunity to play on the Kansas City Monarchs. He then got invited to a meeting …show more content…
“Foul Lines: Teaching Race in Jim Crow America Through Baseball History.” History Teacher 46.3 (2013): 329-535. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20Feb.2017. Delphos St. John Library.
Dunn, Herb. Jackie Robinson Young Sports Trailblazer. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1999, Delphos St. John
In the workshop, “What baseball taught me about diversity,” Antonio D. Evans explained the way diversity connects to every aspect of playing baseball. His experiences throughout his baseball career taught him how to be culturally diverse and how society can become culturally diverse. He mentions that he played on teams with people who didn’t think like him, act like him or look like him, but he accepted them as a human being. Evans’ also states that baseball is a good teacher of life and you can be bad seventy percent of the time and still be one of the best.
pril 15 marks the anniversary of Jackie Robinson's breaking of the color barrier in Major League Baseball. A student once asked me: "What is the color barrier? " Baseball's "color barrier" signifies the time in American history when black- and brown-skinned ballplayers were kept out of the Majors. In 1947, my father, Jackie Robinson, broke through that barrier and opened the door for others to follow.
Perhaps the most famous accomplishment of Jackie Robinson’s life was his baseball career. During the first half of the 20th century, segregation was a common aspect of American life. African Americans would be separated from white Americans in nearly all elements of life, including sports. Likewise, it was standard for there
Robinson would go on to attend UCLA, where he was the first athlete to receive a varsity letter for four sports. An article describing his accomplishments states this by saying, “In 1941, Jackie Robinson became the first athlete in the history of UCLA to letter in four sports (Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Track) in the same year” (“Hall of Famers”). Jackie was one of four black players on UCLA’s football team in 1939, which was abnormal, considering this was a time when very few black athletes played college football. Robinson won the 1940 NCAA Championship in the long jump. Surprisingly, baseball was the worst sport for him during his tenure at UCLA, hitting only .097 in his only season.
Jackie Robinson was an American baseball player who is best known for breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball (MLB). However, Robinson was not just a trailblazing athlete; he was also a civil rights activist who used his platform to fight for racial equality in America. This paper will explore how Robinson used his position as a prominent athlete to advance the cause of civil rights and how he remains an inspiration for activists today. Born in Georgia in 1919, Robinson grew up in a world that was deeply divided along racial lines.
His father left him and his mother when Jackie was only six months. He and his mother moved to a working-class neighborhood in Pasadena. He didn 't just play baseball in his young life. He found himself playing marbles, soccer, dodgeball, tennis, golf, football, and basketball. When he was in college, he became the first
Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919 and he died on October 24, 1972 (McGuire and Wheeler). Nevertheless, Rachel Robinson said Jackie did not consider baseball the peak of his life because of his other contributions to American society (Williams). Jackie Robinson made many contributions to American society as the first black major league baseball player, a business owner, and a civil rights and NAACP activist. Jackie Robinson made
Jackie Robinson has lived a successful life due to his determination to break color barriers, his determination to prove people wrong, and his outstanding athletic abilities. Robinson had many struggles growing up, including his life after he was married. His life started on January
Jackie Robinson is known to be one of the most influential people in baseball and in society. He eternally changed the aspect of American history. It was unusual to have a colored person be treated equally as a white person during the time of the 1900s. He was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 and later moved to Pasadena, California to pursue a better life. He came from a poor family of sharecroppers in the South and was the youngest of five.
To do that, he had to find someone that could withstand racial discrimination and learn to not fight back when dealt with harsh criticism. Jackie Robinson took an amazing risk when he became the first African-American athlete to play in the major leagues. Robinson has been a huge inspiration to athletes, paving the way for blacks, not just in the game of baseball, as well as being an outspoken activist for the rights of American-Americans. Baseball was segregated at the time, but Jackie took an unbelievable risk, breaking the color barrier in the sport.
He was a big part in the fight for equal rights. Jackie Robinson took so much abuse on the field because of his race that it gave him mental breakdowns. These breakdowns sometimes took days to recover from but he went through all of that so other people would have better opportunities. But this didn’t just go on for one season, Robinson had to deal with that racism for about two years before he was really accepted as a “respected” baseball player. (Kuhn,web) and (Wilson,web).
Jackie Robinson was a game changer for all sports. He broke barriers in baseball allowing African Americans to play baseball. Jackie was hated at first but he didn't say anything and let his playing do the talking. Jackie didn't only change baseball he helped his community and the Civil Rights movement.
Jackie Robinson not only made impacts on the field that were monumental, but he made impacts off the field that were equally as important. Jackie helped presidents get elected, get kids off the streets and into the most prestigious schools there is, and most importantly he broke the black color barrier in baseball. Jackie Robinson is one of the most influential people to ever live, he did things that people would dream about, he stood up for what he believed. To begin, Jackie’s biggest accomplishment was breaking the black color barrier on baseball, “ Jackie Robinson broke through the color barrier that kept blacks out of the Major League Baseball [MLB].
He went to Pasadena College where he played 4 sports, football, baseball, track, and basketball. He was very talented in all of them, but he really saw something in baseball. Coming out out of college, Jackie was rejected by the Boston Red Sox, he then went off to serve in the military, Jackie was soon promoted to 2nd lieutenant, and after got platoon leader. On August 28, 1945 he met with Branch Rickey. Then on October 23, 1945 Jackie Robinson signed a contract to play with the Montreal Royals of the International League.
Jackie Robinson inspired many others to uplift them self above societal standards. Prior to Robinson’s success, no African American athlete had received similar praise from white America. “Jackie Robinson changed the way of how many white Americans thought about minorities because he was the first acknowledged black player to perform in the Major Leagues.” (Swaine 1) Jackie Robinson changed the way of how many white Americans viewed African Americans because he was the first acknowledged African American baseball player to succeed in the major leagues. Robinson showed the white Americans that they were not superior to his race and that they couldn 't keep him or people alike oppressed.