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29 December 2008
Jackie Robinson: Breaking the Color Barrier
First black major leaguer breaks down racial divides
This article is excerpted from the book Free At Last: The U.S. Civil Rights Movement, published by the Bureau of International Information Programs. View the entire book (PDF, 3.6 MB).
By: Brian Heyman
The winner of more than 30 journalism awards, Brian Heyman is a sportswriter at The Journal-News in White Plains, New York.
The Brooklyn Dodgers arrived at Shibe Park, bringing their new lightning rod of controversy to the baseball stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — a black player named Jackie Robinson. The symbols of intolerance flew down from the crowd, and the words of intolerance spilled out from the home team’s bench. “Philadelphia was the worst,” said Ralph Branca, who was there as a pitcher for Brooklyn. “They threw black cats on the field. They threw watermelon on the field. Ben Chapman, the Philadelphia manager, was very vocal, getting on Jackie.”
It was 1947 in the United States, and for many the country still came in two shades — black and white. Some hearts, including many from the South, were long filled with hate simply over the color of a person’s skin. Black people, from their perspective, didn’t deserve equal civil rights with whites. And that had extended to the unofficial-but-understood idea among baseball officials and team owners since before the turn of the century that the major leagues were for white players only. Blacks would have to play on their own circuit, the Negro leagues.
But then came Robinson, bursting past the color barrier on April 15, 1947, as an infielder for the team in the racially diverse New York City borough of Brooklyn. He became a pioneering symbol that transcended sports, a large first step on a lengthy path toward driving home the concept of equality. His teammate Branca explained how Robinson’s achievement transcended the baseball diamond:
I’ve often said that it changed baseball, but it also changed the country and eventually changed the world … .. Jackie made it easier forRosa Parks. He made it easier for Martin Luther King Jr. And he made it easier for any black leader who was going to strive for racial equality. It basically changed the attitude of the whole country as far as looking at blacks.
It happened on the team. We had southern guys who grew up in that set of mores who looked down on blacks. They [African Americans] had to ride in the back of the bus, and they couldn’t drink at the same water fountains, couldn’t go to the same [bathrooms]. They [the white players] eventually changed their minds.
Born in Cairo, Georgia, on January 31, 1919, Robinson grew up in Pasadena, California. He excelled at four sports while in college at the nearby University of California at Los Angeles — baseball, football, basketball, and track. The U.S. Army drafted him in 1942. The military was still segregated (President Harry S. Truman would order its desegregation in 1948); when the proud Robinson refused to ride in the back of a bus, he was brought up on military charges of insubordination. But he was acquitted and earned an honorable discharge. “He was a person of action,” says his widow, Rachel Robinson. “He didn’t want to be complacent about our situation.”
Meanwhile, the Brooklyn Dodgers’ general manager, Branch Rickey, decided it was time to integrate the national pastime of baseball, not least because he believed that African-American players would give his club a competitive advantage. Rickey understood that his man would have to possess the fortitude and strength of character to withstand the inevitable racist taunts — and worse — of players and fans. Rickey scouted Robinson in 1945, playing for Kansas City in the Negro leagues, and decided that he had found such a player, and such a man.
Robinson spent the next season with the Dodgers’ minor-league team in Montreal, and then was promoted to the Dodgers for the 1947 season. It wasn’t easy being a pioneer. Rickey made Robinson promise for three years not to respond to the insults that came at him from fans around the league and the opposing teams. Enduring pressure experienced by no player before or since, Robinson excelled on the field.
In his first major-league season, at the age of 28, Robinson played first base and compiled a .297 batting average. He displayed a dynamic style by stealing a National League-leading 29 bases, won the league’s Rookie of the Year award, and helped the team reach the World Series. It helped that other teams acknowledged that Robinson had given the Dodgers a real edge and began themselves signing and playing black players. His best season came in 1949: He played second base and batted .342 with 16 home runs, 124 runs batted in, and 37 stolen bases, earning the league’s Most Valuable Player award.
In all, Robinson spent 10 seasons with the Dodgers and made six World Series appearances, including Brooklyn’s one and only championship year of 1955. After the following season, the six-time All-Star retired rather than go along with a trade to the rival New York Giants. In 1962, Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first black player so honored.
After his playing career ended, Robinson continued to help in the fight for racial equality, speaking up for civil rights and for the leading men and organizations in the movement. This included service on the Board of Directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In 1972, Jackie Robinson suffered a heart attack and died, age 53. In those 53 years, Robinson impacted millions of lives. He shamed the bigot, inspired African Americans, and through his unflagging example of resilience and dignity moved Americans of all stripes toward acceptance of African-American civil rights.
“A life is not important,” Robinson himself said, “except in the impact it has on other lives.”
