Jackie Robinson Courage Essay

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

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives” -Jackie Robinson. As an African American Jackie wasn’t treated fairly like many other blacks. He overcame many obstacles in life and inspired many. He began his baseball career in 1947 and finished up in 1957. He was an absolute outstanding baseball player for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Jackie Robinson is a great role model because he was the first African American to play in the MLB, he represented many African Americans, and inspired all

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.

Jackie Robinson once said, “I don't think that I or any other Negro, as an American citizen, should have to ask for anything that is rightfully his. We are demanding that we just be given the things that are rightfully ours and that we're not looking for anything else.” (Jackie Robinson, Civil Rights Advocate) This clearly showed that he was not just another baseball player; he was a civil rights leader during his time even if many people did not realize it. In three important ways, he had a major impact on the civil rights movements during the 19th century.

The Negro leagues played a very important role in modern day baseball, allowing the development and upbringing of a whole new generation of baseball players and philosophies. There are not many places that you can find information regarding the Negro leagues such as artifacts, personal account of events, or an accurate chronological timeline of what occurred during the ‘Negro Leagues’ era of baseball. Additionally, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is not just simply a representation of what happened for baseball specifically during that era. The Museum is a representation of how African Americans were finally able to advance in the United States. An African American playing baseball with ‘white folk’ was quite literally unheard of until Jackie Robinson came to fame with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

     On July 23, 1962, in the charming village of Cooperstown, New York, four new members were inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame. As they gathered around the wooden platform, the fans reminisced about America’s national pastime. Edd Roush and Bill McKechnie, sixty-eight and seventy-four years old respectively, were two of the inductees that day (Robinson 142). They were old-timers chosen by the veterans’ committee. Bob Feller and Jackie Robinson, both forty-two, were youngsters by comparison. According to the rules of the Hall of Fame, a player must be retired for five years before he can be considered for induction. Both Feller and Robinson were elected in the first year they were

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.

“I am not concerned for your liking or disliking, all I care about is you respecting me as a human being,” Jackie Robinson once said (Jackie Robinson Quotes). Through his courage and bravery he was able to change the game of baseball by showing that everybody is equal no matter what color skin you are. He was inspired by his brother to stand up for his race and fight for equality. He was one of the best Major League Baseball players, which showed that just because he was black does not mean he was bad at baseball.

To me, a hero is someone you can look up to; someone whom you can admire for their qualities and the obstacles they have overcome. “Fifty years ago, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson became the first black player to play in a Major League baseball game. Jackie was a fearless person and fought until the end and made a big history.”"Jackie Robinson: The Story of an American Hero." HubPages. HubPages, 14 Sept. 2014. Web. 9 May 2016. Everyone respects him a lot and he was a brave man to keep on playing baseball. Though people think Jackie Robinson is not a hero, but others do because he did lots of amazing things that led other black people to play any sport they wanted.

Negro baseball leagues have a deep historical significance. Racism and “Jim Crow” laws encouraged segregation of African-Americans and whites. Arguably, the players on the negro baseball leagues were some of the best ever. Even today they are still being recognized and honored for their wonderful contribution to baseball as a whole. It started when major league owners had made a “gentleman’s agreement” to keep blacks from playing in the game. The barrier that went up was finally broken with a few black players being signed into white teams in the 1940s. It was once said by Martin Luther King Jr., “[Segregation] gives the segregator a false sense of superiority, it gives the segregated a false sense of inferiority.” While that is true of

In the biography Jackie Robinson and the American Dilemma by John R. M. Wilson, it tells the story of racial injustice done after world war II and explains how Jackie Robinson was pioneer of better race relations in the United States. The obstacles Jackie Robinson overcame were amazing, he had the responsibility to convert the institutions, customs, and attitudes that had defined race relations in the United States. Seldom has history ever placed so much of a strain on one person. I am addressing the importance of Jackie Robinson’s trials and triumphs to American racial dynamics in the post war period to show how Robinson was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement and brought baseball fans together regardless of race.

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

The Negro Baseball Leagues have been through a lot of hardships and problems. The Negro Leagues and the players have dealt with racial segregation. The Leagues were almost forced to dissipate during the Great Depression. Also, the leagues have taken down the color barrier.

     Jackie Robinson and integration are two phrases that cannot be segregated. Whether he liked it or not, he played the star role in the integration of society during the time that he played Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers. His heroic journey that landed him in the Majors shows, “how integration has come to baseball and how it can be achieved in every corner of the land'; (Robinson 16). But this amazing triumph over the Jim Crow laws could only have been possible in New York as Robinson says, “Cooperstown, New York, and Birmingham, Alabama, are both in the Unites States. In Cooperstown I had been the guest of honor in the company of three other new Hall of

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.