Introduction
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was an American baseball player, the first black player in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the 20th century. He ended a period when African-American baseball players were only allowed to play in Negro leagues (Williams 21). Robinson reached significant heights in baseball, becoming the first recipient of the MLB Rookie of the Year Award (1947), becoming the National League’s Most Valuable Player (1949), and being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1997, by the decision of Major League Baseball officials, he was assigned No. 42 in all league clubs (Williams 23). Thus, it is essential to establish an athlete’s profile and the importance of race for his success.
Information on Childhood and the Influence of Race
Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in the American state of Georgia. He was raised in a large family of sharecroppers, Jerry and Mellie Robinson (Williams 32). When the future baseball star was one year old, the first tragedy happened in his biography – his father left the family. As a result, the mother raised the children alone, working as a maid and cook. Later she managed to save money to buy her own house on a small plot of land (Williams 32). Since it was not easy for Mally to provide for her children, they were deprived of many opportunities. Thus, from his childhood, Jack Roosevelt Robinson felt that people with black skin did not have enough resources to live with dignity. Therefore, he had a dream to demonstrate that skin color does not become essential if people have talent in a specific field.
As a teenager, Jackie began to develop an interest in various sports. Robinson was most interested in baseball, basketball, tennis, rugby and track and field. At the age of 17, he won the Pacific Coast Negro tennis competition, and he also played for the high school basketball team (Williams 47). In 1938, Robinson won the regional baseball championship, becoming the tournament’s most valuable player. Simultaneously, he received a number of athletic awards.
That same year he openly criticized the arrest of his black friend, for which he received a two-year suspended sentence. It was at that point in his biography that Jackie’s active struggle against racism and discrimination of all kinds began. It is also important to note that in the summer of 1944, an incident led to the end of his military service (Williams 64). As he was riding on an Army bus with an African American woman, the driver, thinking that Robinson’s companion was white, ordered him to sit in the back of the cabin, to which Jackie responded by refusing. For this concession, Robinson was arrested and reported to his military superiors (Williams 67). Consequently, a case was fabricated against him, but at a jury trial, he was acquitted. After his discharge, he returned to sports, deciding to concentrate on baseball.
It is also worth noting that the athlete gave an interview where he described his own career and talked about the racial issue. Jack Roosevelt Robinson said, “I don’t consider myself a particularly temperamental person, except for one thing about racial prejudice” (Williams 71). The athlete said that discrimination on the basis of race motivated him to prove that such biased judgments do not correspond to reality. Thus, the racial issue was an incentive to achieve victories in sports.
Conclusion
Thus, Robinson has been fighting for equality all his life. This is because he grew up in a poor family where his mother worked hard so that the children could get the care they needed. Besides, there were situations in the athlete’s life when whites humiliated blacks, but such cases motivated Robinson to pay more attention to baseball. The reason is that this sport allowed him to demonstrate that black people also deserve recognition and respect.
Work Cited
Williams, Heather. Jackie Robinson. Cherry Lake, 2018.