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Jackie Robinson after 75 Years
Jackie Robinson after 75 Years
This year is the historic time of the 75th year anniversary of Jackie Robinson going into the Major League Baseball organization. He was the first black man to join the MLB since Reconstruction. He was a hero. After these long decades, we still are fighting for the same aim of justice just like in 1947. Jackie Robinson not only fought racism and discrimination throughout his life. He married a black woman who was his complete equal too. She is Rachel Robinson who is almost 100 years living today in this world. Rachel Robinson has worked very hard in nursing and uses activism to advance the cause of social justice. Jackie Robinson was born in Georgia, and Robinson was raised in California. As a gifted athlete, Jackie Robinson played track, basketball, football, and baseball when he was in high school plus college. He played professional football and was a WWII-era veteran in the U.S. Army. From early on, he opposed Jim Crow apartheid verbally, and he was constantly invested in the Civil Rights Movement. He stood up against the extremism of Barry Goldwater, supported Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and promoted a black-owned banking institution in New York City. His children carried on his traditions of courage, love of truth, and fighting for justice. Robinson wanted black administrators in the leadership of baseball institutions. So, he was thinking of the fight for human liberation for a long time. As he lived, Jackie Robinson possessed human humbleness and compassion. Tons of average people of any color would not non-violently respond to vulgar plus racist words thrown at them. Yet, Jackie Robinson survived vicious racist baseball players with grace and profound dignity. As a black man in the 21st century, Jackie Robinson gave us hope, inspiration, and strength to carry forward the legitimate, just cause of black liberation. Jackie Robinson remains a true role model for the black community and any freedom-loving human being worldwide.
During the Beginning
To start, Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919. He was born in Cairo, Georgia to Mallie and Jerry Robinson. His family was made up of sharecroppers. Mallie's maiden name was McGriff. Jackie Robinson's siblings are Edgar, Frank, Matthew, and Willa Mae. Jackie was the 5th and last child of the family. Later, the family moved to California in 1920. They lived in Pasadena, California where he stayed for numerous years. The extended Robinson family established itself on a residential plot containing two small houses at 121 Pepper Street in Pasadena, California. Robinson's mother worked various odd jobs to support the family. Growing up in relative poverty in an otherwise affluent community, Robinson and his minority friends were excluded from many recreational opportunities. As a result, Robinson joined a neighborhood gang, but his friend Carl Anderson persuaded him to abandon it. In 1935, Jackie Robinson graduated from Washington Junior High School and was enrolled at John Muir High School (or Muir Tech). In high school, he played football, basketball, track and field, and baseball. He played shortstop and catcher on the baseball team, quarterback on the football team, and guard on the basketball team. With the track and field squad, he won awards in the broad jump. He was also a member of the tennis team. By 1936, Robinson won the junior boys' singles championship in the annual Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament and earned a place on the Pomona annual baseball tournament all-star team, which included future Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Bob Lemon. In late January 1937, the Pasadena Star-News newspaper reported that Robinson "for two years has been the outstanding athlete at Muir, starring in football, basketball, track, baseball, and tennis."
After Muir, Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College (PJC), where he continued his athletic career by participating in basketball, football, baseball, and track. On the football team, he played quarterback and safety. He was a shortstop and leadoff hitter for the baseball team, and he broke an American junior college broad-jump record held by his brother Mack with a jump of 25 ft. 6+1⁄2 in. on May 7, 1938. Like in Muir High School, most of Jackie's teammates were white. While playing football at PJC, Robinson suffered a fractured ankle, complications from which would eventually delay his deployment status while in the military. In 1938, he was elected to the All-Southland Junior College Team for baseball and selected as the region's Most Valuable Player
In 1938, he participated in the JC Track Championship, and he set a national record (back then) in the broad jump (in April at Pomona, California. He races to Glendale and arrived at midgame to help the Pasadena Junior College to win the Championship in baseball by getting 2 hits and a stolen base. In 1936, his brother, Mack Robinson, won an Olympic Silver medal only to the great Jesse Owens during the 200 m. dash race. This Olympics took place at Berlin, Germany. Back then, Jackie Robinson was known to have opposed authority "figures" who expressed racism against black people. While at PJC, he was motivated by a preacher (the Rev. Karl Downs) to attend church on a regular basis, and Downs became a confidant for Robinson, a Christian. Toward the end of his PJC tenure, Frank Robinson (to whom Robinson felt closest among his three brothers) was killed in a motorcycle accident. The event motivated Jackie to pursue his athletic career at the nearby University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he could remain closer to Frank's family.
In 1939, Jackie Robinson attended UCLA. He was the school's first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports of baseball, basketball, football, and track. He excelled in sports like football, baseball, basketball, and track. He was one of four black players on the Bruins' 1939 football team; the others were Woody Strode, Kenny Washington, and Ray Bartlett. Washington, Strode, and Robinson made up three of the team's four backfield players. At a time when only a few black students played mainstream college football, this made UCLA college football's most integrated team. They went undefeated with four ties at 6–0–4. In track and field, Robinson won the 1940 NCAA championship in the long jump at 24 ft 10+1⁄4 in. (7.58 m). Baseball was Robinson's "worst sport" at UCLA; he hit .097 in his only season, although in his first game he went 4-for-4 and twice stole home. While a senior at UCLA, Robinson met his future wife, Rachel Isum (b.1922), a UCLA freshman who was familiar with Robinson's athletic career at PJC. He played football as a senior, but the 1940 Bruins won only one game. In the spring, Robinson left college just shy of graduation, despite the reservations of his mother and Isum. He took a job as an assistant athletic director with the government's National Youth Administration (NYA) in Atascadero, California.
Jackie Robinson During World War II
After his career at UCLA, Jackie Robinson was hired to play semi-pro football with the Honolulu Bears. Their first exhibition game was in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He left Honolulu on December 5, 1941, which was just 2 days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was on the ship called Lurline on his way home when Congress formally declared war against Japan. Jackie Robinson played for the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast Football League in December 1941. In 1942, Robinson joined the Army during World War II. He was a friend to the famous boxer Joe Lewis too. Robinson was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit at Fort Riley (in north central Kansas). Many people like Robinson (who were black soldiers) applied for admission to an Officer Candidate (OCS) located at Fort Riley. Although the Army's initial July 1941 guidelines for OCS had been drafted as race neutral, few black applicants were admitted into OCS until after subsequent directives by Army leadership. As a result, the applications of Robinson and his colleagues were delayed for several months. After protests by heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (then stationed at Fort Riley) and with the help of Truman Gibson (then an assistant civilian aide to the Secretary of War), the men were accepted into OCS. The experience led to a personal friendship between Robinson and Louis.
Jackie Robinson earned a promotion to the 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army by 1943. Afterward, Jackie Robinson and Rachel Robinson became engaged. By April 1944, he became the platoon leader of Company B of the 761st. After receiving his commission, Robinson was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texas, where he joined the 761st "Black Panthers" Tank Battalion. While at Fort Hood, Robinson often used his weekend leave to visit the Rev. Karl Downs, President of Sam Huston College (now Huston–Tillotson University) in nearby Austin, Texas; in California, Downs had been Robinson's pastor at Scott United Methodist Church while Robinson attended PJC. On July 6, 1944, he refused to move to the back of a military bus at Fort Hood, Texas. Texas had Jim Crow apartheid back then.
While awaiting results of hospital tests on the ankle he had injured in junior college, Robinson boarded an Army bus with a fellow officer's wife; although the Army had commissioned its own unsegregated bus line, the bus driver ordered Robinson to move to the back of the bus. Robinson refused. The driver backed down, but after reaching the end of the line, summoned the military police, who took Robinson into custody. When Robinson later confronted the investigating duty officer about racist questioning by the officer and his assistant, the officer recommended Robinson be court-martialed.
After Robinson's commander in the 761st, Paul L. Bates, refused to authorize the legal action, Robinson was summarily transferred to the 758th Battalion—where the commander quickly consented to charge Robinson with multiple offenses, including, among other charges, public drunkenness, even though Robinson did not drink. By the time of the court-martial in August 2, 1944, the charges against Robinson had been reduced to two counts of insubordination during questioning. Robinson was acquitted by an all-white panel of nine officers. Although his former unit, the 761st Tank Battalion, became the first black tank unit to see combat in World War II, Robinson's court-martial proceedings prohibited him from being deployed overseas; thus, he never saw combat action.
He was later honorably discharged on November 28, 1944. As early as 1942, Jackie Robinson had a tryout with the Chicago White Sox. After his discharge, Robinson briefly returned to his old football club, the Los Angeles Bulldogs. Robinson then accepted an offer from his old friend and pastor Rev. Karl Downs to be the athletic director at Samuel Huston College in Austin, then of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The job included coaching the school's basketball team for the 1944–45 season. As it was a fledgling program, few students tried out for the basketball team, and Robinson even resorted to inserting himself into the lineup for exhibition games. Although his teams were outmatched by opponents, Robinson was respected as a disciplinarian coach, and drew the admiration of, among others, Langston University basketball player Marques Haynes, a future member of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Making History
In 1945, Jackie Robinson joined the Negro American League baseball team. He played for a while and gained baseball experience. Jackie Robinson met the great pitcher Satchel Paige and went on to play on the American All Stars Team. By April 16, 1945, Jackie Robinson had a tryout with the Boston Red Sox. Neither the manager nor the players showed up for his "tryout." In August 28, 1945, Robinson meet with Branch Ricky of the Dodgers and agreed to join the Dodger Organization. Later, he was drafted by the Montreal Royals, and then signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. By October 23, 1945, Robinson signed a contract to play with the Montreal Royals of the International League. He earned a $3,500 bonus and a $600 per month salary.
Soon, he was the first African American to play professional baseball at the MLB since Reconstruction. Many teams threatened to strike rather than play against Jackie Robinson, because Jackie is a black man. By April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson played his first major league game. Many fans and even some teammates mocked him, cursed him, and disrespected him in many ways. Yet, Robinson played great on the field. Jackie Robinson even won the Rookie of the Year Award. By 1949, Jackie Robinson joined a few other African American men to play in the first All Star game that included African Americans in 1949. On February 10, 1946, Jackie and Rachel Robinson (her maiden name is Isum) married at the Independent Church in Los Angeles, California. By the Spring of 1946, the new couple came into Daytona Beach, Florida for Spring training. Robinson met with John Wright, another African American on the Montreal Roster. The Montreal Royals team is locked out of a Ballpark in Sanford, Florida, because Jackie and John are black men. Jackie Robinson played his first professional baseball game for the Montreal Royals at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, New Jersey. Joe Cummiskey of the Jersey Journal wrote: "Jackie Robinson, first Negro player ever to play in organized baseball, broke in yesterday with the Montreal Royals - and with a bang. He smashed out four hits in five times up-a homer with two men on base and three singles. He stole two bases, drove in four runs, and scored from third twice by forcing Jersey City's pitchers into balks. Montreal won 14-1." The Montreal Royals will go on to win the International League by 19 1/2 games and go on to win the Little World Series against the winners of the American Association the Louisville Colonels. Jackie finished the year as the International League batting champion, compiling a .349 average in 124 games. On November 18, 1946, Jackie Robinson and Rachel Robinson had their first child, named Jackie Robinson Jr. February 1947 was when both the Dodgers and the Montreal Royals held their spring training in Havana, Cuba. On April 11, 1947, The Brooklyn Dodgers announced the purchase of the contract of Jackie Roosevelt Robinson from Montreal.
Jackie Robinson made his Major League preseason debut on April 11, 1947 against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, NYC in an exhibition game. There were 24,237 people in attendance. On that game, Robinson grounds out against Johnny Sain in his first at bat. He goes 0-3 and scores a run. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at the relatively advanced age of 28 at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, more than 14,000 of whom were black. Although he failed to get a base hit, he walked and scored a run in the Dodgers' 5–3 victory. Robinson became the first player since 1884 to openly break the major league baseball color line. Black fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning their Negro league teams. Some Dodger players insinuated they would sit out rather than play alongside Robinson. The brewing mutiny ended when Dodgers management took a stand for Robinson. Manager Leo Durocher informed the team, "I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a f____ zebra. I'm the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What's more, I say he can make us all rich. And if any of you cannot use the money, I will see that you are all traded."
Robinson nonetheless became the target of rough physical play by opponents (particularly the Cardinals). At one time, he received a seven-inch gash in his leg from Enos Slaughter. On April 22, 1947, during a game between the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies players and manager Ben Chapman called Robinson a "n____" from their dugout and yelled that he should "go back to the cotton fields." Rickey later recalled that Chapman "did more than anybody to unite the Dodgers. When he poured out that string of unconscionable abuse, he solidified and united thirty men."
By May 9, 1947, a strike threatened by the St. Louis Cardinals is abruptly stopped by National League President Ford Frick (right) who stated "...The National League will go down the line with Robinson, whatever the consequence." By July 5 of the same year, the Cleveland Indians announced the signing of 22-year-old outfielder, Larry Doby of the Newark Eagles. However, Robinson received significant encouragement from several major league players. Robinson named Lee "Jeep" Handley, who played for the Phillies at the time, as the first opposing player to wish him well. Dodgers' teammate Pee Wee Reese once came to Robinson's defense with the famous line, "You can hate a man for many reasons. Color is not one of them." In 1947 or 1948, Reese is said to have put his arm around Robinson in response to fans who shouted racial slurs at Robinson before a game in Boston or Cincinnati. A statue by sculptor William Behrends, unveiled at KeySpan Park on November 1, 2005, depicts Reese with his arm around Robinson. Jewish baseball star Hank Greenberg, who had to deal with ethnic epithets during his career, also encouraged Robinson.
Following an incident where Greenberg collided with Robinson at first base, he "whispered a few words into Robinson's ear", which Robinson later characterized as "words of encouragement." Greenberg had advised him to overcome his critics by defeating them in games. Robinson also talked frequently with Larry Doby, who endured his own hardships since becoming the first black player in the American League with the Cleveland Indians, as the two spoke to one another via telephone throughout the season. Ben Chapman was one of the most racist baseball players in history along with Ty Cobb. Everyone knows that Ty Cobb was a racist. I knew that since I was a child. According to Roger Kahn's The Era book, Chapman told Jackie Robinson these words, "...Hey you, there. Snowflake. Yeah, you. You hear me. When did they let you outa the jungle... Hey, we don't need no n______s here... Hey, black boy. You like white p____nt__g, black boy? You like white p____? Which one o' the white boys' wives are you f_____ tonight?"
Robinson finished the season having played in 151 games for the Dodgers, with a batting average of .297, an on-base percentage of .383, and a .427 slugging percentage. He had 175 hits (scoring 125 runs) including 31 doubles, 5 triples, and 12 home runs, driving in 48 runs for the year. Robinson led the league in sacrifice hits, with 28, and in stolen bases, with 29. By August 27, 1947, the Dodgers bring up a second black player, 27-year-old Dan Bankhand, a strikeout pitcher from the Memphis Red Sox. On September 23, 1947, with permission for the Dodgers, Jackie's admirers staged a Jackie Robinson Day for him at Ebbets Field where he and Rachel are presented with a new Cadillac. Jackie is also presented with an interracial goodwill plaque from Jack Semel, a season box holder and supporter. Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, a great entertainer, presented Jackie with an inscribed gold wristwatch from Tiffany's, which he cherished and always wore. The Robinson's also received a television and cash gifts that day. It would be October 1947 when Jackie Robinson was voted the first-ever major league Rookie of the Year. Two years later they would give one to a member of each league. Jackie also finished fifth in the National League's Most Valuable Player voting. On July 12, 1949, Jackie Robinson joined Roy Campanella, Don Newcombe, and Larry Doby as the first African Americans to play in an All-Star Game. Jackie Robinson testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee about the role of blacks in the military. He criticized Paul Robeson (who was a heroic black man), but Jackie Robinson later apologized for his statements to Paul Robeson later in his life. In fact, Jackie Robinson said the following words about Paul Robeson: ''I do have an increased respect for Paul Robeson, who, over the span of that 20 years'' - since 1949 - ''sacrificed himself, his career and the wealth and comfort he once enjoyed because, I believe, he was sincerely trying to help his people.'' By October 1949, Jackie Robinson was named the National League Most Valuable Player. He wins the batting title by batting .342, with 203 hits, 124 RBI's, and 37 stolen bases.
By January 13, 1950, Jackie and Rachel Robinson had their only daughter, named Sharon Robinson. In that same year, he stars in his own biographical called, "The Jackie Robinson Story." Ruby Dee played Rachel Robinson in the film. On October 26, 1950, Branch Rickey resigned as the President of the Dodgers, and Walter O'Malley was introduced as the new President of the team. On May 14, 1952, Jackie Robinson's 2nd son named David Robinson was born. By the Winter of 1953, Dodger manager Church Dressen quit and was succeeded by a minor league manager in the system, Walter Alston.
After a time, Jackie Robinson and his teammates played against the Yankees and won four games to allow the Dodgers to win their World Championship in 1955. In the year of 1957, Jackie Robinson retired from baseball. He had played 10 years for the Dodgers, winning 6 pennants and one World Series. Jackie Robinson worked with the NAACP to fight for freedom and justice for all. In 1957, Jackie Robinson joined Chock Full O'Nuts, a restaurant, and food chain, as Vice President of community relations. On June 7, 1957, Jackie Robinson, alongside Martin Luther King Jr., received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Howard University. In 1958, he was the spokesman and fundraiser for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Increasingly, he was involved in politics. Many people in my generation didn't know that Jackie Robinson campaigned for Presidential candidate Richard Nixon in 1960. Back in the day, there were an equal number of moderates/liberals and conservatives in both the Republican and Democratic parties. Today, most Republicans are conservatives, and most Democrats are liberals. So, back then, Jackie Robinson was a liberal Republican. He worked with Nelson Rockefeller, who was a liberal/moderate Republican too. By 1957, he was diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes caused the continued deterioration of his body.
In October 1959, Robinson entered the Greenville Municipal Airport's whites-only waiting room. Airport police asked Robinson to leave, but he refused. At a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) speech in Greenville, South Carolina, Robinson urged "complete freedom" and encouraged black citizens to vote and to protest their second-class citizenship. The following January, approximately 1,000 people marched on New Year's Day to the airport, which was desegregated shortly thereafter.
After Baseball and His Political Activism
By 1962, Jackie Robinson was inducted into the Baseball's Hall of Fame. It was a great achievement in his life in 1962. His Hall of Fame plaque reads the following words of: "Jack Roosevelt Robinson, Brooklyn N.L. 1947 to 1956, Leading N.L. batter in 1949. Holds fielding mark for second baseman playing in 150 or more games with .992. Led N.L. in stolen bases in 1947 and 1949. Lifetime batting average .311. Joint record holder for most double plays by second baseman, 137 in 1951. Led second baseman double plays 1949-50-51-52." Jackie Robinson was the first black player to be inducted into the Cooperstown Museum. In 1963, Jackie Robinson worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other human beings in a civil rights protest in Birmingham, Alabama. He was also present at the historic 1963 March on Washington with his son. By 1964, Robinson was named by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as one of the six national directors of his Presidential campaign. Rockefeller obviously lost, and Goldwater was the Republican nominee. During that time, Jackie Robinson legitimately opposed Goldwater, because Barry Goldwater refused to support federal civil rights legislation. Barry Goldwater publicly opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Goldwater was definitely wrong to do that. During this time, Robinson supported Rockefeller's 1964 Presidential run. Goldwater believed in the faulty libertarian argument that equality involving civil rights must be done at the state level. The problem with that argument is that some states will have more protections than others causing a breakdown of equal enforcement of the law involving civil rights. That is why you need federal, strong civil rights legislation in order for all parts of the nation to have uniform, powerful protections.
Also, Goldwater appealed to many far-right extremists, war mongers, and racists who want to press the clock back on progressive progress. Goldwater was a war hawk in favor of massive military involvement in the Vietnam War. Jackie Robinson supported LBJ in 1964 and became a Democratic supporter by the 1964 Presidential election. In 1965, Robinson served as an analyst for ABC's Major League Baseball Game of the Week telecasts, the first black person to do so. In 1966, Robinson was hired as general manager for the short-lived Brooklyn Dodgers of the Continental Football League. In 1972, he served as a part-time commentator on Montreal Expos telecasts. He chaired the NAACP's million-dollar Freedom Fund Drive in 1957 and served on the organization's board until 1967. He praised President John F. Kennedy for his support of civil rights.
A lot of people don't know that Malcolm X and Jackie Robinson had tensions with each other ideologically. It became so personal that both men never truly reconciled at the end. It's sad, but it's real. Jackie Robinson underestimated Malcolm X's revolutionary politics, his courage, and his will to change to be more progressive. Malcolm X underestimated Jackie Robinson's persistent motivation for equality and justice for black people. Both misunderstood each other which caused tensions in the first place. The irony is that both men would have more agreements than disagreements as time would go on. To understand how this existed, we have to look at historical events chronologically. Malcolm X at first respected Jackie Robinson. He listened to the radio on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson was on the field as the first African American in the MLB since Reconstruction. Malcolm X would later reject his previous surname to be a follower of the religion of Islam. Malcolm X said that he was a great fan of Jackie Robinson in his "The Autobiography of Malcolm X." Malcolm X's brother, Philbert, inspired him to join the Nation of Islam. Years later, Malcolm X would be the most powerful speaker of the NOI, and Jackie Robinson would retire from baseball. By 1963, Malcolm X and Jackie Robinson would massively disagree on many issues. Malcolm X back then from 1953 to 1964 was in the Nation of Islam. Back then, he preached black nationalism and a separate black state to try to escape white racist society. Even when Malcolm X was in the Nation of Islam, he spoke the truth about being against imperialism, fighting police brutality, endorsing self-defense, and appreciating black identity.
Jackie Robinson disagreed with NOI leadership calling white people devils. Robinson rejected separatism by his own words, "“Malcolm X and his organization believe in separation. They have every right to. If they want to go off into some all-black community, why don’t they just go.” – Jackie Robinson, The Chicago Defender ( July 13, 1963).
“There I was, the black grandson of a slave, the son of a black sharecropper, part of a historic occasion, a symbolic hero to my people. The air was sparkling. The sunlight was warm. The band struck up the national anthem. The flag billowed in the wind. It should have been a glorious moment for me as the stirring words of the national anthem poured from the stands. Perhaps, it was, but then again, perhaps, the anthem could be called the theme song for a drama called The Noble Experiment. Today, as I look back on that opening game of my first world series, I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey's drama and that I was only a principal actor. As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.”
― Jackie Robinson, I Never Had It Made
Jackie Robinson and Malcolm X fought for the same goal of black liberation, but they disagreed with the approaches on achieving the same aim. Robinson believed in integration. He supported Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Malcolm X, when he was in the NOI, believed in separatism, not integration or Jim Crow apartheid (i.e. segregation). Malcolm X said that segregation relegated black people to 2nd class citizenship which is true. Malcolm X regularly criticized the U.S. government for its lax response to eliminate anti-black racism, and he criticized black leaders that whom he didn't agree with as "Uncle Toms." Jackie Robinson considered the Nation of Islam as a group that would harm the essence of the civil rights movement. He voiced his criticisms in public and in the column in the New Journal and Guide, a weekly African American news journal including The Chicago Defender. Robinson disagreed with Congressman Adam Clayton Powell and accused him of wanting people to boycott the NAACP and support Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X criticized white liberals as trying to co-opt the black freedom movement to make it lose its radical or revolutionary flavor. Elijah Muhammad told Malcolm X to not retaliate after girls were killed in Birmingham, Alabama and the police in LA murdered a NOI member. This increased the split among Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. Dr. King was egged in Harlem, NYC. Malcolm X accused Robinson of selling out, and Robinson accused Malcolm X of promoting self-destruction for black people. The war of the words would continue and be increasingly personal.
Civil rights icon Medgar Evers was murdered in an assassination on June 12, 1963, at his driveway at Jackson, Mississippi. The murderer was Byron De La Beckwith. Malcolm X didn't attend Evers' funeral. Jackie Robinson criticized Malcolm X by saying that he was militant on Harlem street corners but not in the South where white racist terrorism ran rampant. Malcolm X criticized Ralph Bunche as a puppet of international Western elites, but Robinson praised Dr. Bunche for attending the funeral of Medgar Evers. Malcolm X responded in a speech saying that Robinson was an ex-baseball player and criticized the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Malcolm X criticized Robinson's ties and support for Richard Nixon, and his other policies. Malcolm X said that "If my integrity or sincerity is to be measured in your eyesight by attendance at funerals of Negroes who have been murdered by whites, if you should ever meet with such misfortune I promise to attend your funeral. Then, perhaps you will be able to see me in a different light. If you should ever become as militant on behalf of your oppressed people as Medgar Evers was, the same whites whom you now take to be your friends will be the first to put the bullet or the dagger in your back, just as they put it in the back of Medgar Evers.”
Robinson would criticize Malcolm X as a racist. Malcolm X was suspended from the NOI for his remarks about the JFK assassination. Robinson talked about Elijah Muhammad too. By 1964, Muhammad Ali defeated Sonny Liston. Malcolm X supported Ali. Malcolm X said this about Muhammad Ali: "He is more than Jackie Robinson was, because Robinson is the white man’s hero. But Cassius is the black man’s hero.” Months later, Malcolm X came to his Hajj. He transformed after coming to Mecca. He rejected the view that every white person was exclusively evil, but he believed in self-defense and black liberation. Jackie Robinson was shocked and astonished by the transformed Malcolm X. “In my view, if Malcolm were sincere and honest in his new visions,” Robinson wrote in The Chicago Defender on July 18, 1964, “he would reflect on how harshly and unjustly he has belittled and sought to discredit our national responsible leaders who have been working in the struggle for so long.” Malcolm X was forming his Organization of Afro-American Unity advancing international Pan-Africanism. Muhammad Ali rejected Malcolm X, because Malcolm X soon criticized Elijah Muhammad (and accused him of adultery which angered tons of NOI members). Malcolm X heroically changed further by opposing the Vietnam War, standing up for equality for women, and being against imperialism. Later, he was assassinated on February 21, 1965. Muhammad Ali regretted never having the time to reconcile with Malcolm X. Jackie Robinson expressed his views on the death of Malcolm X in these terms in the March 1965 column for The Chicago Defender, "But, in making him a martyr, they have only deepened whatever influence he may have had. In addition, they have generated a senseless brutal … war which sees black hands raised against brothers at a time when we most need unity among black people.” Jackie Robinson considered the death of Malcolm X a tragedy. If both would have spoke by 1965, they could have found common ground. Malcolm X found common ground with many people. Both black men (Malcolm X and Jackie Robinson) were heroic freedom fighters who wanted the best for black people collectively.
By 1966, Jackie Robinson was appointed Special Assistant to the Governor of New York State Nelson Rockefeller. By 1967 and 1968, America changed. The Vietnam War existed, there was the rise of Black Power, and there were rebellions in America (the rebellions had legitimate grievances against police terrorism plus against oppression in general. As Dr. King has said, rebellions involving burning things down is a long-term self-defeating action. You build things up to solve problems without burning buildings down. Dr. King was right to say that a riot is the language of the unheard meaning that the neglect of the problems of black people caused these rebellions to flourish back then. Jackie Robinson supported the Vietnam War, and Dr. King opposed the Vietnam War. I agree with Dr. King on the Vietnam War. Jackie Robinson was from an older generation who believed that joining the military represented courage, patriotism, and fidelity to giving more black people opportunities in society. Yet, the Vietnam War was an unjust war at every level. It should have never been in existence. Jackie Robinson was skeptical of Black Power. Of course, I believe in Black Power. Black Power is not violent or racist. Black Power is about promoting self-determination and political including economic independence in the black community. We have to be careful to advance progressive economic policies (i.e. capitalist exploitation must end, and we don't want lax wages or labor rights being violated. We desire a radical redistribution of economic and political power) and use Black Power in the right way that is not reactionary.
In 1968, Jackie Robinson's mother, Mallie, passed away. Dr. King passed away too in Memphis, Tennessee. Also, Robinson was named the National Chairman of the Brotherhood Week for the National Conference of Christians and Jews. Jackie Robinson supported Hubert Humphrey's 1968 Presidential campaign.
His Later Years
Robinson also became a prolific writer, including a column for the Amsterdam News, a weekly Black newspaper, where he further developed his fierce opposition to the Republican Party. “I suspect that unless the party showed a desire to win our votes,” he wrote in a letter in 1968 to Clarence Lee Towns Jr., the leading Black member of the Republican National Committee, “it may rest assured that I and my friends cannot and will not support a conservative." Jackie Robinson also wrote, “I have my right to remember that I am Black and American before I am Republican,” Robinson wrote in the Amsterdam News. “As such, I will never vote for Mr. Nixon.” In 1970, the Jackie Robinson Construction Company is established to build housing for families with low and moderate incomes. Jackie Robinson didn't just talk about civil rights. He executed programs to help people from the black-owned bank to his construction company. On June 17, 1971, Jackie Robinson's son, Jackie Robinson Jr., was killed in an automobile accident. It was one of the saddest moments in the Robinson household. Jackie Robinson also had health issues with his heart and other parts of his body. On June 4, 1972, Jackie's number 42 is retired in a ceremony at Dodger Stadium along with Roy Campanella's number 39 and Sandy Koufax's number 32. On October 14, 1972, Jackie makes his last public appearance before the start of the second game of the World Series in Cincinnati. He said, "I'd like to live to see a black manager, I'd like to live to see the day when there is a black man coaching at third base."
On October 23, 1972, Jackie Robinson passed away by a heart attack at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. The Reverend Jesse Jackson gave the eulogy at the funeral, held at Cypress Hills Cemetery in Brooklyn. A portion of that eulogy is below:
"Jackie's body was a temple of God, an instrument of peace that had no commitment to the idle gods of fame and materialism and empty awards and cheap trophies... Jackie, as a figure in history, was a rock in the water, hitting concentric circles and ripples of new possibility. Jackie, as a co-partner with God, was a balm in Gilead, in America, in Ebbets Field... When Jackie took the field, something within us reminded us of our birthright to be free. And Somebody without reminded us that is could be attained. There was strength and pride and power when the big rock hit the water, and concentric circles came forth and ripples of new possibility spread throughout the nation... He didn't integrate baseball for himself. He infiltrated baseball for all of us, seeking and looking for more oxygen for black survival, and looking for new possibility... His feet on the baseball diamond made it more than a sport, a narrative of achievement more than a game.
For many of us...is was a gift, of new expectations, on that dash... He helped us to ascend from misery, to hope, on the muscles of his arms, and the meaning of his life. With Rachel, he made a covenant, where he realized that to live is to suffer, but to survive is to find meaning in that suffering. Today we can raise our hands and say Hallelujah... In his last dash, Jackie stole home. Pain, misery, and travail have lost. Jackie is saved. His enemies can leave him alone. His body will rest, but his spirit and his mind and his impact are perpetual and as affixed to human progress as are the stars in the heavens, the shine in the sun and the glow in the moon. This mind, this mission, could not be held down by a grave... No grave can hold this body down. It belongs to the ages, and all of us are better off because the temple of God, the man with convictions, the man with a mission passed this way."
By 1973, the Jackie Robinson Foundation was created. The Jackie Robinson Foundation is a public, not-for-profit national organization founded by Rachel Robinson as a vehicle to perpetuate the memory of Jackie Robinson and his achievements. To this very day, it has provided scholarships to those without enough funds to go to college. By February 7, 1981, UCLA's Baseball stadium is dedicated to Jackie Robinson. This statue stands in front. By August 2, 1982, Jackie Robinson becomes the first baseball player ever to be depicted on a U.S. Postage Stamp called "Black Heritage."
In the Major Baseball League, April 15th is the date of the special celebration called Jackie Robinson Day. This day of commemoration was caused by the legendary former baseball player Ken Griffey Jr. He made the idea of wearing the No. 42 (or Jackie Robinson's baseball jersey number) on April 15. It started on April 15th, 1997, when Selig retired Jackie Robinson's number of 42. Griffey played for the Mariners back in 1997. He asked that his uniform number be flip-flopped. 24 to 42. Ten years later, Griffey wanted to wear No. 42 again to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Robinson's debut. Ken Griffey Jr. had to ask Selig permission to do it as Robinson's number was retired. Selig called Rachel Robinson, and Griffey had permission to do it. It was extended for any MLB player to wear No. 42 on April 15th each year. Many players wore No. 42, especially black players from other teams at first. In 2009, it was official that any MLB player could wear No. 42 from players, coaches, and managers on Jackie Robinson Day. Ken Griffey Jr. (who is involved in philanthropy, social activism, and other almsgiving to this very day) taught his children about the legacy of Jackie Robinson. Sharon Robinson, Jackie Robinson's daughter, has praised the day.
“I’m grateful for all the breaks and honors and opportunities I’ve had, but I always believe I won’t have it made until the humblest black kid in the most remote backwoods of America has it made."
― Jackie Robinson, I Never Had It Made: An Autobiography
His Inspirational Legacy
Icons, whose work has been a blessing for so many human beings, deserve their honor and respect. Tons of black athletes are readily inspired by Jackie Robinson from Lebron James to Ken Griffey Jr. Jackie Robinson expressed heroism because it takes massive strength to continue to fight for change despite obstacles and bigotry coming your way. That is why Jackie Robinson stood tall as a black man in love with his wife and his family unconditionally. After Jackie Robinson came into the MLB, other black baseball players continued to fight racial injustice like the St. Louis Cardinal players of Curt Flood, Bill White, and Bob Gibson. Each of them won the World Series for the Cardinals too. Tons of people comprehend Bob Gibson's pitching abilities, Bill White announcing games, and Curt Flood wanting better contracts for players (in creating free agency for the first time in the MLB). In our DNA, our people have always resisted evil and injustice. Muhammad Ali promoted the love of Blackness and opposed the unjust Vietnam War. We know of high jumper Rose Robinson and Colin Kaepernick protesting for racial justice. Rose Robinson did her protest back in the summer of 1959. We know about Gwen Berry showing her support for social justice and black people in her protest. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was a basketball player who used activism to stand up for freedom and justice.
In 2022, there are numerous recent athletic leaders who used their time to condemn racial injustice, police brutality, and imperialism. By 1984, Jackie Robinson was inducted into UCLA's Hall of Fame, and he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1987, on the 40th anniversary of his historic Major League debut, the National League Rookie of the Year award is named in Robinson's honor. In 1997, MLB celebrates the 50th anniversary of Jackie breaking baseball's color barrier by retiring his number 42 in perpetuity. Major League Baseball dedicates the season to Robinson on the 50th anniversary of his debut. People, of every color, admire the sacrifice that Jackie Robinson did in his activities to make the world better. Jackie Robinson Day was formed in 2004 by the Major League Baseball organization to honor one of the greatest players in human history. In 2005, Jackie Robinson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Jackie Robinson back then and today continues to make an impact on people.
By Timothy
Rest in Power Brother Jackie Robinson
Saturday, June 18, 2022
Friday, June 17, 2022
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