How Did Jackie Robinson's Impact On African American Culture

The 1950’s and the 1960’s saw the rise of the rise of Civil Rights and their respected leaders. This tumultuous period also saw the rise of Civil Rights leaders in sports. Much like how the southern United States was segregated, so was baseball. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945. More importantly, Jackie Robinson became involved with the Civil Rights Movement and Organizations like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). It was during these times Jackie Robinson wrote to important people in the United States ranging from Martin Luther King Jr. to President Richard Nixon. Through an analysis of Jackie Robinson’s letters and the impact of the integration of baseball, several truths about the Civil Rights Movement are revealed: the escalation of violence between the Civil Rights Movement and the opposition, the growing pressure on legislators about Civil Rights, and that the integration of African Americans in Major League Baseball impacted future Rights for African Americans.

There are many people in the world who are very influential. These people impact the world in a positive way by inspiring people to follow their dreams, stand up for what they believe in and overcome obstacles in their life. Jackie Robinson, an individual that shows these traits. Jackie robinson is influential because his work to break the color barrier, his success in the battle for civil rights, and pursuing his talent and love for athletics.

Jackie Robinson began to make history since 1947 when he first broke baseball’s color barrier to be on the team of the Dodgers. Robinson was extremely talented and won the National League Rookie of the Year award his first season of playing in MLB, and accompanied the Dodgers to the National League championship, which was only the first of his six trips to the World Series. After a successful season with the minor league Montreal Royals in 1946, The ending of segregation in baseball was official when he was given a Dodgers uniform with the famous number 42, in 1947 of April. Just two years later Robinson won the league MVP award and was awarded into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. Although Robinson gave off an extreme amount of confidence and strength, Robinson faced tons of insults and threats because of the color of his skin. Robinson, being so courageous for still doing what he loved although constantly getting

Jackie not only accepted the offer he also agreed to Rickey’s one major condition which was that he cannot respond to the hurtful abuse by the angry protestors he would face. After the agreement, Jackie made history in 1947 when he broke baseball’s color barrier to play for the Brooklyn Dodger. Jackie was one talented player, he won the National League Rookie of the Year award in his first season of MLB, and helped bring the Brooklyn Dodgers to the National League championship, which was the first of his six trips to the World Series. In 1949 Robinson won the MLB MVP award, and he was added into

Many people are stuck behind the thought of of not being good enough or not having the courage to push through obstacles to get to where they want to be. One specific individual has proven to show moral courage and can teach others to never give up on what they believe in and push past obstacles to reach their goals. Fighting through all the people who told him he couldn’t, Jackie Robinson has proven to be one of the most influential men during a period of discrimination. Robinson was an amazing major league baseball player for the Brooklyn Dodgers. After his father had left his mother and his four other siblings, his family decided to move to Pasadena, California where they lived as the only black family in a white neighborhood (“Jackie Robinson”). They were often tormented and harassed, which helped to boost his determination and focus. He enrolled at the university of and became a four sport star athlete where his talent in baseball was discovered. Jackie Robinson has proven to be a

The Brooklyn Dodgers signed Robinson in 1947. This lead to breaking the racial barrier in baseball and helped open the opportunity for other African Americans to play baseball. He had to face a lot of adversity by people saying very racist sayings like “Negroes don't play baseball” and people calling him a “Nigger,” by fans and managers. Robinson was very humble on and off the field and more white people started to respect him and the African American people. Robinson is the only person to have his number retired throughout the whole league because of his significance to Major League Baseball. Many people have said, “Jackie is

Many people disagreed with the Dodgers decision to sign Robinson; not because he wasn't good enough, but because he was African American. During Jackie’s time, all black ball players had to play in a league called the Negro League which was established in 1880. Robinson had a great career with the Dodgers, winning Rookie of the Year in 1947 and winning the World Series in 1955. Robinsons number(42) is officially retired by all 32 baseball clubs in Major League Baseball. He was elected to baseball’s prestigious Hall Of Fame in 1962 and is one of the most universally known players in all of the baseball's history.

Jackie’s greatest struggles were internal, “ he agreed to join the pact with Branch Rickey at his signing, mentioning how he wouldn’t allow himself to be provoked regardless of viciousness of the baiting”(Robinson 70). He had committed to what he realized the most threatening period of his overall career on the field. His career started to not only affect him as a person but his family. Opposing teams even on the Dodgers, Robinson encountered threats concealed within the mail and on the field. The threats he approached in his baseball career did not stop his dedication toward the sport. His weapon against prejudice was his excellent play towards the opposition. His commitment to the sport during the “called him to receive baseball first Rookie of the year award, and the team itself won the National League Pennant ”(Robinson 75). The support encouraged Jackie Robinson’s drive to success even more then before. On April 15, 1947 Jackie broke the barrier allowing other deserving African American players to the majors. Jackie inspires society showing how he came along way from rejection with the Red sox to playing for the Dodgers, because his

The first man to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball in the 20th century, Jackie Robinson is, to this day, one of the most celebrated baseball players in history. It is only a few times in one’s life that they have the chance to know of someone who’s character could be digested in simply a sentence. Especially a complex person, a complex athelte. Although there aren’t many people like Jackie Robinson. "A life is not important," he said, "except in the impact it has on other lives." With that said, there are a small number of people, and zero athlete’s who have influenced more lifes. Due to being the first African American man to play in the MLB, Jackie recieved a ton of critism and negative attention all through his career. However, Robinson managed to turn his cheek to all things negative, and went on to chage the face of America’s favorite past time forever. Jakcie signed with the Dodgers, August 28, 1945 “’Launching the experiment in Montreal was more then fortuitous. It was destiny in some ways. The security and respect shown towards us allowed Jackie to perform at the peak of his ability’” Mrs. Robinson claimed. Soon enough, Newspapers reffered to Jackie as the “colored comet” or “the dark destroyer.” Still he disreguarded all racial slurs, it helped that he signed a conteact prohibitting him from responding. On March 17th, 1946 he played his first professional game in Daytona. “’He was impatient and a fighter for change,’” Mrs. Robinson stated, “and

So many good things came out of it. “Simple, wasn’t it?” Robinson recalled later. “It could have happened to you. The telephone rings. You answer it... and you’re in the Big Leagues... Just like a fairy tale... I went to bed one night wearing pajamas and woke up wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers’ uniform.” (Eig 1). Jackie played a very important role in MLB history. In Marianne Cooly’s article over Jackie Robinson she states that he was the first black person to play modern league baseball (0). Jackie accomplished many great things. In 1947, Robinson was named Rookie of the Year (Cooly 0). Even though he accomplished so much, there were still issues with racism on and off the

In the pre-dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, the 1940s were rife with racial tension. Nearly all public institutions were segregated. Libraries, schools, transportation, the armed forces. Sports teams were just as rigorously divided into two sects--the Negro leagues and the major leagues. There was no question about which division a black man would play for. Nobody dared cross the rift between whites and blacks; they were too afraid. Eventually, however, all it took was one man to begin breaking down the barrier. Jackie Robinson’s time in baseball’s major leagues broke color lines and brought about significant social changes both on and off the field.

Despite the color barrier being broken in 1947, the amount of African Americans in the MLB has been steadily declining for over two decades from nearly thirty percent to an all-time low of eight percent of the leagues players. The MLB has spent years creating think tanks and task forces attempting to figure out why this decline is happening and how to reverse it. Their biggest motivator is that the MLB has fallen behind both the NBA and NFL in popularity, with the African American fan base shrinking at the highest rate. There is a vast amount of opinions with varying reasoning from the sport being too white with an all-white viewership, to African Americans are drawn to more physical sports, there’s far too much bias and stereotypes involved

Baseball, “America’s pastime”, the most simple sport of the big 4, a sport where failing 7 times out of 10 will still land you among the greats of all time. Baseball has been played by all ages since the Mid-18th Century. It is a sport where 9 men have at least 27 chances to score more runs than the other 9 men. So simple, but yet so captivating. This simplicity, one would assume, would lead to an almost utopian atmosphere. But, for Troy Maxon, an ex-baseball player, the game of Baseball is anything but a utopia. You see, before Jackie Robinson debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, there were no African-American baseball players. So, African-Americans were relegated to the Negro Leagues to

In the summer of 1839 America was changed forever, the great sport of Baseball was created by a man named Abner Doubleday. American Baseball was known as a white man’s game since its uprising, until one man changed that forever. Jackie Robinson was the first African

Jackie Robinson was the first black man to to enter the MLB in over 60 years. In doing so, he was cultivated in large amounts of racism and threats he was going to, and did apprehend. In this; he had to overcome the mind-boggling hatred he was going to receive, to do not only what he loved, but what, for America; was well overdue. Jackie Robinson was a victim of many hate crimes throughout his career, as shown in Jackie Robinson- Mini Bio (video) when it says “life for Jackie Robinson was far from easy. On the road, he was forced to stay in separate hotels, and he had agreed in his contract to turn the other cheek when faced with racial insults and threats of physical violence”(00:1:18- 00:1:33). This shows that, even with his race, yet another barrier was put up between him and his teammates, which prevented them from learning that he too, knows his way around a diamond; for baseball at least. This