Can turning points in a single person’s life-change a whole society? A Turning point can be described as a life changing event that teaches someone about themselves or the world around them. People who endure a life-changing event can respond positively and negatively. In the autobiography,” I never had it made.” by Jackie Robinson, the memoir,” Warriors don’t cry” by Melba Pattillo Beals, and the article “Warriors don’t cry” by Rebecca Maskell, each of the individuals faced turning points. Jackie Robinson, Melba Pattillo Beals, and Feng Ru face life-changing experiences that altered both their lives and country. Jackie Robinson was chosen to integrate Major League Baseball during a time in history where blacks weren’t allowed to be part of the Major Leagues. On his path to becoming the first black player in the Major Leagues he had to endure many challenges such as racism,insults, physical harm, and pressure from his teammates,other baseball owners, and fans. In paragraph three the text states,” some of my own teammates refused to accept me because I was black.” This was a challenge for Jackie because he was on the team but the teammates would refuse him by treating him badly and didn’t want him to play baseball games. Despite the Racism he faced he grew and developed through the support, encouragement, and the love shown to him by his supporters(the children and the black fans). In paragraph eleven the text states,”...Attaboy Jackie. It broke the tension and i
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
One of the challenges that Jackie faced was receiving hate mail. “The hate mail piled up” (Robinson). Another challenge that Robinson faced was physical and verbal threats upon his life. “There were threats against me and my family, and even out-and-out attempts at physical harm to me” (Robinson). This demonstrates some of the challenges that Jackie faced as the first black professional baseball player of his time. Jackie Robinson responded to these events by working hard to be the best baseball player he could possibly be. He did this so that people would look past his race. Jackie grew and developed by ignoring the negativity and focused on the positive things that were happening in his life. Jackie also learned to appreciate the people around him who supported him during these difficult times. Jackie impacted his society/country by paving the way for other black athletes to play in professional sports. “Suppressed and repressed for so many years, they needed a victorious black man as a symbol” (Robinson). This concludes evidence of how difficult it was for Jackie Robinson to become the first black professional baseball
Jackie Robinson had an opportunity to play in the major leagues.But many fans and players were prejudiced.But no matter what happen he must never lose her temper.People threw things at him,couldn’t sit with team at restaurants,and many people did want him on the team.But he change
First of all, Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player in the major leagues, setting an example so others could follow, integrating baseball forever. When he joined the major leagues, he “smashed the unwritten law that kept blacks out of the big leagues.”(Robinson) When he joined the Dodgers, he faced verbal and physical threats, angry and racist fans. Even with all these people hating him, he worked hard to be the best player he could be, not another NLB player. Robinson later said that Mr.Ricky “Chosen me as the person to lead the way.” When Jackie heard this, he responded by ignoring the bad things and focusing on the good things and people who gave him support.”I had become the first black player in the major leagues.”(Robinson) This shows that Jackie
“...shattering the so called color barrier, a 50 year old tradition of segregation(00:0:25-00:0:31, Jackie Robinson Mini-Bio)”,”Robinson’s success have opened the floodgates for fellow African-Americans, within the first five years of his career, another 150 black baseball players have been signed to minor and major leagues(00:2:24-00:2:39, Jackie Robinson Mini-Bio),”. Jackie Robinson helped America open their eyes and see how African-Americans are good at sports too and they should be able to play in the same league as white people do, Jackie also later became acquainted with Martin Luther King Jr. in his non-violent campaigns in America. Jackie helped end segregation and discrimination in
Baseball superstar, Jackie Robinson, was the first black man to play on a major league baseball team. Based on Jackie’s experiences, however, he stated that he “Never Had it Made.” This was because he was segregated, isolated, and harrassed by the other teammates. For example, he stated that he was “heckled… with childish remarks and gestures that coincided with the threats that had been made” (Paragraph 1). This quote supports the fact that he was harassed by others. Another example is when he stated that “some of those grown men sat in the dugout and pointed bats at me and made machine-gun like noises” (Paragraph 1). This shows that the roommates were “an incredibly childish display of bad will” (Paragraph 1). Jackie Robinson stated these
Robinson lived with “snubs and rebuffs and rejections.” (Robinson) It was difficult to convince Jackie’s teammates to accept him, but after “they realized I was a good ballplayer who could be helpful in their earning a few thousand more dollars in world series money,” (Robinson) Jackie Robinson was a "welcomed" player within his team, but the other teams and team owners were against him. Jackie’s teammates only accepted him because he could earn money for them. Many people considered Branch Rickey as a demagogue, but Mr. Rickey did not pay attention to them. Jackie Robinson ignored the threats and worked hard to become “the hurricane eye of a significant breakthrough and to be used to prove that a sport can’t be called national if blacks are barred from it.” (Robinson) Being able to gain this position made Jackie proud and tough, because of all he had to go through. Jackie Robinson was able to break the color barrier, and he became the “victorious black man as a symbol” (Robinson) for the black community, changing the world to be more fair and
What he did, changed the lives of all African Americans. Jackie Robinson put himself at risk for the advancement of African Americans. In paragraph 3, the text states, “It hadn't been easy. Some of my own teammates refused to accept me because I was black. I had been forced to live with snubs and rebuffs and rejections.” This quote explains how it made him feel unwanted on the field and on the team. In paragraph 10, it states, “It was one thing for me out there on the playing field to be able to keep my cool in the face of insults. But it was another for all those black people sitting in the stands to keep from overreacting when they sensed a racial slur or an unjust decision… ” This quote shows how much harder it was for him to play on the field and not to react to what they were saying. He had to be cautious for every choice he made reflected on other African Americans and he was a role model to them. He had to try really hard to ignore what others were saying for the sake of the other African Americans. In addition, Jackie Robinson’s choices affected many lives, including his
From the Humble beginning Jackie Robinson would grow to be the first baseball player to break the major leagues Baseball color barrier that segregated the sport for more than 50 years. At the beginning when Jackie Robinson was chosen by the Brooklyn Dodgers coach to play in the majors. When Robinson played his first game he was called names and he was threatened. Throughout his decade-long career with the Dodgers, Robinson made advancements in the cause of civil rights for black athletes. After more than ten games robinson wasn’t known by his color, he was known as someone who never gave up and he kept pushing to make a stand on the team. The first time Robinson was introduced on the team not even his teammates looked at him or talked to him
“In 1947, Jackie Robinson, a talented baseball player and man of great character, made history as the first African-American baseball player to ‘break the color line’ and play in modern Major League Baseball.” (StudySync “I Never Had It Made” Introduction). This corroborates that the turning point (A.K.A. life-changing experience) that impacted not only his life, but also his country was his becoming the first African-American to be a part of the major leagues. “Suppressed and repressed for so many years, they needed a victorious black man as a symbol.” (StudySync “I Never Had It Made” Second Paragraph).
In other aspects of American culture, an inspiration to many people of color and was level-headed towards all the hatred, comments, and actions the whites made. Making important racial breakthroughs in the world, Robinson was the first African American Major League Baseball player. Late on she also states, “ His career helped the upcoming Civil Rights Movement by giving Americans a heroic African-American sports figure to rally around.”(Paragraph 15). McBirney convinces the reader the significance of Jackie Robinson's work in the civil right movement since Jackie Robinson was the First African American Major League Baseball player, which meant he would have a significant racial diversity. He was an inspiration towards, African Americans and many other people of color due to the fact that he was able to not fight back towards racism. In the text, Jessica McBirney proclaims, "Could he be “a Negro player with enough guts not to fight back?” Promising that Robinson wouldn't fight back, that showed that he had the courage not to fight back towards racial discrimination and injustice.” (Paragraph 8). Robinson also dealt with racism in his early adulthood as well. Two of his encounters with racism was by law enforcement. McBirney proclaims in paragraph
When Jackie was invited to go to the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league team, those were his worst days. That was where all the racism and hatred was for Jackie. When he stepped onto the field, just for his first game, everyone was booing and cussing at him. They wrote notes and letters to him saying that he does not belong on the baseball field. That because he was a black, he should not be able to play and he should go back to the Negro Leagues. We all know he hated having all that for doing nothing. Jackie never did anything to the white people, but the while men and women were very mean and rude for no reason! When Jackie broke the color barrier for Major League on April 15, 1947, baseball changed forever. Now in baseball, as usual, everyone was booing Jackie when he stepped onto the field. He had to deal with all of it. His teammates were very good with him and so was the coach and team manager. Now the fans were and even hotel managers were not. When they were going to a playoff game against the Cincinnati Reds, the hotel manager would not let the whole team stay just because Jackie was black. That's how bad it all was. White men were mean and rude for no
Jackie Robinson’s prosperity in Major League Baseball gave him a strong influence on the African American youth and helped lead them to believe that they could achieve integration in society. Taking into account that Jackie Robinson was an immense
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in the MLB. Back then many people's point of view about African Americans was that they had some things, but the things should be worse than what the things white people had, and because of that he was proud yet uneasy because he would get a lot of hate for playing, and he did. The thing is he didn’t only get hate, but he also got threats against him and his family to physically harm him,“The hate mail piled up. There were threats against me and my family and even out-and-out attempts at physical harm to me.” Being in the MLB was hard and he could’ve given up, but he didn’t. Jackie Robinson stayed strong and he changed our point of view about African Americans not doing things that only white people could do and he helped our country change for the better
In April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson took a step onto Ebbets field in a Dodgers number 42 jersey, breaking the color line. A crowd of 26,623 and over 14,000 Negros came to watch him that day. Even though he knew that playing in the Major Leagues wouldn’t be easy, he didn’t let his skin color stop him from doing what he wanted. His courage and perseverance inspired not only black people, but people of all races to not be afraid; to