Jackie Robinson Research Papers

“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives,”

Greatly known for being the first African American to ever play professional baseball on a team of all white players, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball (MLB) after battling the complications that came along with segregation, and inspired a generation of African Americans to question the doctrine of “separate but equal”.

Being born in Georgia in 1919, Jackie battled discrimination all throughout his life (Mara 6). When Jackie was one year old, his family moved to an predominantly white neighborhood in California. His neighbors didn’t want his family living there, so Jackie often got called him names and had rocks thrown at him (Mara 9). Jackie

He was looking for a strong person and a super athlete to end segregation in baseball and chose Jackie Robinson for his team (Mara 18). After playing for the Dodgers minor-league team for the first year, Jackie made his major league debut on April 15, 1947 (O’Sullivan 17-19). People called him terrible names, kicked him with their cleats, hit him with pitches, and even threatened to kill him (Mara 21). When Jackie was at bat, people would say things like “come and shine my shoes” and “boy why you ain’t pickin cotton?” (Brown). Jackie couldn’t eat at the same restaurant or stay in the same hotel as his teammates whenever he traveled South with his team (O’Sullivan 23). Throughout all of this discrimination, Robinson remained silent and didn’t respond to any provocation, answer any insults, or speak out against racism

During 1945, African Americans were segregated from whites with separate schools, restaurants, parks, theaters, and sports teams (O’Sullivan 7). MLB only had white players Many African-American baseball players joined major league teams after Jackie took the first step. However, Jackie wanted African-Americans to be allowed to work as other positions within the major leagues, so he continued his work after he retired from baseball in 1956. In the Civil Rights Movement, Jackie worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (O’Sullivan 29-30). Then, Jackie decided he also wanted to help poor people, so he started a construction company that built homes for those without much money (Goldstein). African-American men and women were fighting against segregation in other sports and in all areas of life (O’Sullivan 33).

The Cleveland Indians signed Larry Doby in 1947, the first African-American to play in the American League (Brown). In 1950, Althea Gibson was the first African American to play tennis in the U.S. Nationals. Willie O’Ree, who was inspired by Jackie, became the first African American to play in the National Hockey League in 1958 (O’Sullivan 34). By 1959, every major league team had at least one African-American player, and several baseball teams hired African Americans as managers years later (O’Sullivan