As hard as it is to make the MLB and be very good in it what made it even more difficult was the harassment Jackie had to endure to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. America was still very segregated and racist in the late 40's which made it so surprising that the manager of the Dodgers was going to bring in a black man to play baseball for the team. It was reported some of the players on the team did not even want to be playing with an African-American either which created even more struggles for Jackie. He would have to endure incredibly racist and hurtful taunts coming from his teammates, the fans, and even umpires. But the only thing he couldn't do was fight back and he knew that since the beginning of his career. His family received threats from others and he was put through hell to play the game he loved so much just because of the color of his skin. We look back on his career today as one of the most important moments in sports history and each year they celebrate Jackie Robinson day where each player wears the number 42 to honor him.
https://www.biography.com/people/jackie-robinson-9460813
This is a really interesting blog post about the evolution of sporting culture and its overcoming Jim Crow laws and stereotypes. However, Jackie Robinson wasn't the first black MLB player. Moses Fleetwood Walker was the true first black MLB player, although he clearly was not as accepted or as attention grabbing as Jackie Robinson was. For one season, he played in the MLB after playing for Syracuse. He actually played 63 years before Jackie Robinson did. Even so, Walker wasn't truly the first. It is believed that William Edward White was a fill-in for one game in 1879. That may not count as being a true MLB player, but even so, it was a breaking point.
ReplyDeleteGood job on the blog post Christian. Jackie Robinson was undoubtedly a prominent figure in American Sports history, and I like that you decided to write about him. Although he may not have been the first black MLB player, as Keren pointed out, he was still a very important figure in challenging racism in America. I feel that there were two key things about Jackie Robinson that made him such an influential person. The first is that he played in a time where racial tensions were extremely high, and he was an example that America can and should be segregated. The second is that he was extremely good and served as one of the many examples of successful black Americans.
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