Jackie Robinson: Annotated Bibliography

Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College after high school. That is where he continued his athletic career. He played on the football team, baseball team, and he broke school broad-jumping records. Most of Jackie's teammates were white. In 1938,

Not long after the family moved to Pasadena, California Robinson’s mother enrolled him into Pasadena Junior College. At Pasadena Junior College Robinson set a National Junior College record in the long jump of 25’ 6 ½” (Ringer 22). After only one year at Pasadena Junior College Robinson received an athletic scholarship to the University of California, Los Angeles (23). There, Robinson became the first Bruin athlete to earn varsity letters in four sports (25). Robinson was a standout in football, baseball, basketball and track (26). After three years of college Robinson left college to work to support his mother (29). He was one of four African American players on the 1939 UCLA Bruins football team. This was not normal to have so many African Americans when only a few dozen at all played on college football teams. Later, Robinson went on to play semi-pro football in Honolulu. Several months later, Pearl Harbor was bombed, and he enlisted in the U.S. Army (31). In the Army Robinson completed Officer Candidate School and became a Second Lieutenant (34). In 1944 Robinson faced a court-martial for refusing to move to the rear of an Army bus (42).

In 1947 if you were any race other than white could not play in major league baseball. “Jackie Robinson, took the first steps toward integrating the sport's major league teams when he signed a contract to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947” (Smith para 1). Jackie Robinson was the first African-American player in the major league baseball. If Jackie Robinson didn’t sign to the Dodgers then who knows how segregated baseball or the world in general would be. The Brooklyn Dodgers were the first to sign an African-American on there team. The Brooklyn Dodger coach ask for Jackie Robinson to come out and talk to him.

In the year of 1747 the first african american was finally apart of the MLB, he was 28 year old Jackie Robinson. After researching him, i believe he was the barrier breaker for dark skinned people playing with or against darker skinned people. What he did wasn't the easiest, it took a lot of work and it took him a lot of emotional strength not to give up.

Although the court case of Plessy v. Ferguson declared segregation to be legal as long as things were equal in 1896, baseball had already done this about ten years prior. There was a creation of the Negro League in the 1920s through the 1940s so that African Americans could have the same opportunities and white players even though they were not allowed on any of the major league teams. Jackie Robinson was a rookie player on the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro League team, and being along side Satchel Paige, no one even noticed who he was. According to the reading in Jackie Robinson and Race in America by Thomas Zeiler, Satchel Paige was the first negro player to be inducted into the Hall of Fame and he possibly believed to be one of the best pitchers of all time. Another comrade of Robinson’s during his time in the Negro League would be Josh Gibson, one of the greatest catchers and hitters of all time. The owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers,

“Robinson won letters in football, baseball, basketball and track at Muir Technical High School. He also attended Pasadena Junior College. When he left in 1939, he declined offers from the major colleges around the nation and chose, University of California at Los Angeles.” Also known as UCLA. It was close to his mother, which made it more of an attractive choice. Robinson’s only had two years at UCLA because of financial pressures. He was very impressive in his two years. He was the highest scorer in basketball competition, he was the national champion in long jump, All-American running-back, and he played shortstop for the varsity baseball team. He was the school’s first athlete to letter in four sports. Sounds like a freak of nature to me. (News Break)

In basketball he was the conference’s player of the year and in baseball he led the team to a conference championship (Schutz,pg.9). In 1938, Robinson set the national junior college Amateur Athletic Union Broad Jump record. The former record holder was his brother Mack Robinson (Schutz,pg.9). In 1936, Mack competed in the Olympics when Jesse Owens won four gold medals, Mack won a silver medal (Schutz,pg.9). After his two years at Pasadena Junior College, Jackie attended the University of California in Los Angeles(Schutz,pg.9). At UCLA, Robinson was phenomenal; he led the conference in scoring in basketball, he won the national broad jump title in track but in baseball he had a rough batting average of .097(Schutz,pg.12). At UCLA, he met his wife Rachel Isum. Rachel and Jackie got married February 10, 1946. In March 1941, Robinson moved on from college sports and was offered to play football for the Honolulu Bears in Hawaii(pg.12). He would get paid 100 dollars per football game

Baseball has always been America’s national pastime. In the early and all the way into the mid 50’s, baseball was America and America was baseball. The only thing lacking in the great game was the absence of African American players and the presence of an all white sport. America still wasn’t friendly or accepted the African American race and many still held great prejudice towards them. All this would change when the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branch Rickey decided he was going to sign a Negro player. Jackie Robinson was that player and Jackie Robinson changed the game, America, and history. By looking specifically at his childhood adversity, college life and the hardships he encountered by becoming the first black player

Jackie Robinson is known for his will and determination, in a game where African Americans were not allowed to play. Major league baseball (MLB), was the biggest professional baseball league in the country but was racially segregated. Growing up in poverty, Jackie Robinson faced many struggles. Jackie was a great athlete that could play multiple sports, just not major league baseball. He competed and excelled at numerous sports, including basketball and football. As good as an athlete he was, Jackie Robinson obtained a college degree and attended UCLA. He played baseball in the all black, Negro leagues, until he broke the MLB’s color barrier in 1947. Though Jackie was mostly known for his athletic abilities, he did his part as a civil rights

Robinson was took a huge risk taking part in this, but it was worth it. He helped the Dodgers win the World Series and after the game a huge mob chased Jackie for three blocks and Sam Maltin a reporter from the Pittsburg Courier stated “It was probably the only day in history that a black man ran from a white mob with love instead of hate on its mind” (Swaine, 2006). It took years until the Major Leagues opened up to more African Americans, but when it did they had a lot of love for Jackie. Joe Black a former teammate expressed his gratitude by saying “When I look at my house. I say thank God for Jackie Robinson” (Singer, 2016).

On April 15,1947 Jackie Roosevelt Robinson broke the color barrier. When he stepped out on to Ebbets Field everyone didn't think he could last long. Jackie was born in Cairo Georgia on January 31,1919, he was the youngest out of five children. He attended John Muir High School. He continued his education at the University Of California, where he became the university’s first student to win four varsity letters in all different sports. In 1941, he was forced to leave UCLA because of financial hardship. Jackie played baseball, football, basketball and was on the track team. From 1942 to 1944, Jackie served as a

Before Jackie Robinson came around, only white people were aloud to play major league baseball. Baseball was very segregated at this time. If one

Although Jackie Robinson was not the best African-American baseball player of his time, his attitude and ability to handle racist harassment led the way for the rest of his race to play Major League Baseball, amongst other sports. Being accepted into professional sports also helped African-Americans become more easily accepted into other aspects of life. Jackie 's impact in the world for the black population is enormous.

Jackie Robinson's entry into the Major Leagues was far from a walk in the park. He climbed over countless obstacles just to play with white men, some of which, he was better then. He not only had to compete with the returning players from the war, but he also contended with racism. "Many towns in the South did not want racially mixed teams"(Weidhorn 53). As time went on, cities realized that Robinson offered them free publicity.

The man who broke the color barrier, Jackie Robinson. Robinson was the first African-American to play in the MLB. Robinson overcame many obstacles in his career the main ones being racism and segregation. Robinson had a 10 year career with the Dodgers. Robinson became a civil rights activist being involved in the NAACP after his retirement from baseball. Jackie has received numerous awards not only for his physical abilities but for his impact he made on the world.