Jackie: The Father Of Baseball

First, Jackie became the first African American to play baseball in the MLB. He played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He played 2nd base and was a superstar. He went through many teams before the Dodgers noticed and the

In 1919, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia. His family being sharecroppers, Jackie's mother, Mallie, raised Jackie and his four other siblings.(JackieRobinson.com) Being the only black family on the block, his family faced discrimination and racism from neighbors all around. From a humble beginning, Jackie was an outstanding athlete.(larrylester42.com) Jackie was promoted from Washington Junior High. Later, he entered John Muir High School after his junior high career. Recognizing his athletic ability, Robinson's older brothers inspired Jackie to pursue sports.(Jackierobinson.com)

The grandson of a slave, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia; he was the youngest of five children. Jackie grew up very poor, but little did he know that his athletic ability would open the doors for his future. After his father deserted the family when Jackie was six months old, his mother, Mallie Robinson, moved the family to California in search of work. California also subjected blacks to segregation at that time, but to less of a degree than in the Deep South. The young Jackie defused his anger over this prejudice by immersing himself in sports. He displayed extraordinary athletic skills in high school, excelling at football, basketball, baseball, and track. After helping Pasadena Junior College

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.

    Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Caigo, Georgia. Growing up he was a very different and bright character, anyone could tell you that one. People always said he would have a smile on his face and when he wanted to do something he was determined until he did it. He had had gone to John Muir High School where he was an excellent athlete and his grades were also very good.

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,

What would you feel like to be the first modern African American to play major league baseball? Well, you don’t because this courageous man named John(Jackie) Robinson took over that role.

The game of baseball evolved immensely during the 1900’s. There were new rules and rule changes, new teams in new states, and then there was Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson was a true legend from the day he was born in 1919. Baseball had it all in the first half of the 1900’s, fans filled the stadiums day after day, even during the war times. There was a big-name player on almost every team, children and adults admired these professional baseball players. The only thing professional baseball didn’t have during these times were African American players. Learning about the hardships that he had to overcome as a young boy, and the accomplishments he made from his college days at UCLA, to becoming the first African American professional baseball player, Jackie made it known that he was an American hero.

Jackie chose to play baseball. Baseball at the time was segregated and whites and blacks played in separate leagues. He began playing for the Montreal royals after being noticed by Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn dodgers. The Montreal royals were an all white baseball team at the time but when Jackie started playing with them, it began to change. Jackie became the first African American to play on an all white baseball team.

Born on January 31, 1919 Jack Roosevelt Robinson was the youngest of five children. His father left the family before Jackie turned one and shortly after his mom moved the family from Georgia to California in search of work (Contemporary Black Biography). Segregation was still present in California, but was less harsh than in the south. To get away from the problems and racial prejudice, Jackie turned to sports. He was an exceptional athlete excelling in football, baseball, basketball, and track in both high school and college. He played four sports for the University of California Los Angeles (commonly known as UCLA). He was mostly a football and basketball star and had no intentions of playing Major League baseball due to the fact that it was all white. Jackie had always wanted to become a social worker to help underprivileged boys and hoped that travelling the nation for sports would expose him to a job in that field

In November 1944, he was passing by a field in Kansas City where the Negro league team, the Kansas City Monarchs was playing and he thought, why not? The Negro Leagues were depleted of talent because of the war so they accepted Jackie with open arms. This is where Jackie would build his legend as he blossomed into a star. In 1946, Branch Dickey decided he was going to break the barrier and sign a Negro league player, the only question was who? Josh Gibson was the best talent but had a history of tempers, anger, and abuse. Satchel Paige was the best pitcher but they felt he was too old. When Rickey began to watch Jackie, he noticed his speed and ability to take over a game. Rickey also knew Robinson was an educated man and grew up with lots of racism, so he felt like Robinson could handle the absolute hell he would have to take by breaking the barrier (Daniels 167).

Jackie Robinson was born January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Ga. being the 25 days preceding Jackie’s birth President Roosevelt died, Roosevelt was Jackie’s middle name. (Obias 2013) Shortly after his birth, his family moved and settled in Pasadena, Calif. During Jackie’s early adulthood World War 2 was occurring across the world. Like many young men Jackie was drafted to serve in the war. However, Jackie received a court martial for refusing to move to the back of the bus for a white soldier. Jackie never saw war action as the incident occurred during boot camp.

The story of Jackie Robinson has become one of America's most iconic and inspiring stories. Since 1947, American history has portrayed Jackie Robinson as a hero, and he has been idolized as a role model to the African American baseball community. It is an unarguable fact that he was the first to tear down the color barriers within professional baseball. The topic of Robinson’s role in integration has long been a point of discussion amongst baseball historians. Researchers have accumulated thousands of accredited documents and interviews with friends and team mates such as short stop, Pee Wee Reese, and team owner, Branch Rickey. However, few journalists have asked why Robinson was selected and what was Branch

“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)

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