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Excerpt From How Jackie Robinson Changed Baseball

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Imagine being so passionate about one thing that you are willing to face criticism and hate to do it. This was the case for Jackie Robinson, both a baseball player and a civil rights icon. Robinson was the first African American baseball player to play in an all white league (in the 20th century). He was often faced with hate and had to listen to people's cruel remarks. He also had his fair share of supporters, who admired him for breaking racial barriers in the United States. He was the start of a new area for the baseball leagues of America. “Hero” by Scott Simon, “Excerpt from How Jackie Robinson Changed Baseball” by Jessica McBirney, and “Jackie Robinson – Mini Bio” by A&E Networks, do a fantastic job of illustrating how Robinson's baseball …show more content…

When Jackie Robinson join the ranks of an all white baseball team he challenged these norms and established new ones, securing his rank as a role model for other African Americans (he hoped they would challenge the color barrier too). Author Jessica McBirney expresses this idea in “Excerpt from How jackie Robinson Changed Baseball”, where she expounds; “Jackie Robinson became the first Major League baseball player to break the color barrier since 1880” (Birney). It had been years since a team had members of both race. Robinson did not accept this and signed to the Dodgers even though he knew what he would have to face. Robinson also challenged the U.S. social norms by becoming one of the first African Americans to be inducted into the Baseball hall of Fame. This as a massive feat for Robinson, for this had not happened many times before. Robinson’s baseball success prompted other African Americans to join sports teams that were previously “whites only.” In the video “Jackie Robinson – Mini Bio” by A&E Networks, they inform the watcher that, in the first five years of Robinson's baseball career around one hundred and fifty other African American/black players joined previously all white baseball teams (2:31–2:37). This movement of African Americans joining all white sports teams head butted with the age old idea of separation between the two races. This social norm was slowly being broken by Robinson and others, and was paving the way to a time where everyone would be treated

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