Jackie Robinson: Breaking the Racial Barriers Essay

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born January 31, 1919. He was born in Cairo, Georgia and was the youngest of five children. He had a grandfather that was a slave, Jackie’s dad was a sharecropper and Mallie, Jackie’s mother, was a maid. His dad ran away from the family when Jackie was only an infant.

In the 1960’s the author was growing up with her mother and five other siblings, moving from place to place in search of a home where the

This book weaves the tale of four generations of the Banes family, who lives in Chicago’s poorest neighborhood called North Lawndale. The author spent a year from May 1989 to April 1990 with this family and observed its struggle with the prevailing health care system. The story rotates in the Banes family, Jackie Bane, her husband Robert Bane, their children Latrice, Demarest , Brianna, Jackie's grandmother Mrs. Cora Jackson and Jackie's father and Mrs. Jackson’s son Tommy Markham.

In order to understand why the integration of baseball was so important, one must understand the importance of baseball during this period. For the past 100 years, baseball could be considered more than the National Pastime and looked at as akin to a national religion. Had Jackie Robinson integrated a different sport such as football or basketball, he would not be remembered today (Gimbel). However, though Robinson possessed incredible talent, there were few people that were willing to draft him, or any African American onto their team. Luckily, sixty-three-year old Branch Ricky recognized that the introduction of African American

Jane Addams and her colleague, Ellen Gates Starr, founded the most successful settlement house in the United States otherwise known as the Hull-House (“Settlement” 1). It was located in a city overrun by poverty, filth and gangsters, and it could not have come at a better time (Lundblad 663). The main purpose of settlement houses was to ease the transition into the American culture and labor force, and The Hull-House offered its residents an opportunity to help the community, was a safe haven for the city, and led the way through social reform for women and children.

The legacy of Jackie Robinson goes beyond the April 15, 1947 afternoon at Ebbets Field, when the Brooklyn Dodger infielder became the first black in the 20th century to play baseball in the major leagues. He changed the sport, and he changed the attitude of a lot of people in this country, Jackie Robinson fought for all the people that were fortunate, a lot of them are, especially the minority guys, to be able to play in the major leagues and the impact on the people of color today.

The retelling of Robinson’s story has been retold many times from the perspective of baseball. Jack Roosevelt Johnson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo Georgia, the youngest of five children during a Spanish flu and smallpox epidemic. When Jackie was very young his father abandoned the family. Now Jackie’s mother Mollie Robinson, had to find a better life for her family. Due to Jim Crow laws Mollie could not buy a house for her family, because they were barred from certain neighborhoods for whites only. Despite this fact Mollie didn’t care she persuaded a light skinned black man to act is if he was buying a house in Pasadena, California. (MSR News) Then the Robinson’s moved in, whites were furious and threatened to burn them out of the house. Mollie ignored the threats and went about her business. This strength and cunning shown b their mother showed the kids how to fight for what they believe in, and to never stop believing and pursuing

“Jackie Robinson was born on the thirty first day of January in 1919”. (biography.com) He was born to a family of sharecroppers in the town of Cairo Georgia, but Jackie grew up in Pasadena California. (Jackie Robinson official website) Jackie grew up being raised by only his mother and his older siblings helped out as well. He had four siblings, three older brothers and one sister. (Britannica encyclopedia) Jackie was the youngest of five kids and they all helped out each other in school, sports, and chores. The Robinson family was the only African American family on their block, but the bias acts of the white people surrounding them didn’t hurt them, but prepared them for their future. (Jackie Robinson official website) Jackie’s older brother Matthew gave him his inspiration to take on sports just as he did. He has always had a huge love for sports in his childhood years. (Jackie Robinson book pg: 4)

To the average person, in the average American community, Jackie Robinson was just what the sports pages said he was, no more, no less. He was the first Negro to play baseball in the major leagues. Everybody knew that, but to see the real Jackie Robinson, you must de-emphasize him as a ball player and emphasize him as a civil rights leader. That part drops out, that which people forget. From his early army days, until well after his baseball days, Robinson had fought to achieve equality among whites and blacks. "Jackie acted out the philosophy of nonviolence of Martin Luther King Jr., before the future civil rights leader had thought of applying it to the problem of segregation in America"(Weidhorn 93). Robinson was an avid

Jackie Robinson: athlete, social activist, hero. These are just some of the words people use to describe Jackie. Robinson was the first person to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, at the time officially designated a white man’s sport. The blacks and whites played in separate leagues but Branch Rickey, vice president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted to integrate Major League Baseball. At this time in the 1940s the Unites States was still segregated and the Jim Crow Laws still reigned heavily in the south. Integration didn’t start until 1948 when Truman signed Executive Order 9981 which integrated the military. This didn’t occur until after Robinson took the field as the first African-American to play in the major leagues.

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.

Jurgis and his family soon adjust to their new lives, as well as to the work presented to them at Durham’s. After lodging with friends and fellow immigrants for some time, they decide to purchase their own house in Packingtown, a village comprised mostly of the innumerable workers employed at Durham’s. Unbeknownst to Jurgis and his family, however, working at Durham’s would prove to be a turbulent and eye-opening experience, regardless of the fact that Durham’s was an essential catalyst for their new life in America.

Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31st 1919. In 1947, at the age of 28, Jackie became the first African American to break the “color line” of Major League Baseball when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his tenure with the Dodgers, Jackie was not simply an average player. Among various other accolades, Mr. Robinson was a starter on six World Series teams as well as being named the National League Rookie of The Year in 1947. His advantageous career was then capped in 1962 when he was inducted in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.1 Contrary to popular belief, Jackie's perseverance in implementing racial integration extended beyond his career in Major League Baseball. During the Sixties Jackie Robinson was a

The game of baseball has been argued to be the number one game in America and also around the world. Respectively the game is also known as “America’s pastime” had over 14 million people in the U.S. alone watching the World Series in 20151. Due to the growing popularity of baseball throughout the world the players of Major League Baseball (MLB) have become more diverse. Since 1950 when baseball started to grow in popularity the attendance per game has risen over 40%2.

Robinson’s husband died in 2011 in an accidental drowning, leaving her behind to take care of all their children. Two months ago, she lost her home in Kansas City and was forced to live in her car with her children. It got to a point that they weren’t having regular meals, and they weren’t able to keep themselves clean because they had no place to shower. Driven to desperation by the seemingly hopeless conditions of her family’s life, she said that her only