Thesis on "Jackie Robinson the Discourse of American Politics"

Thesis 15 pages (4840 words) Sources: 10 Style: Chicago

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Jackie Robinson

The discourse of American politics is focused on individual rights, action and identity. This trait was developed as a result of the social movements that took place during the 1950s and 1960s that highly contributed to the birth and development of a common identity for individuals who shared a particular characteristic, be it ethnic origin, sex, religion, etc. This shared identity enabled their voices to be heard more loudly and clearly, and their discontents to be expressed as a coherent common pain; this pain was no longer restricted to individual life, but transformed into a discontent that was publicly voiced and widely shared. Consequently, this feeling of release and public expression had beneficial effects in terms of the individual who ceased to feel isolated and found comfort in knowing that others shared the same identity and thus the same problems. In order to fully understand the importance of 1960s social movements, it is very important to look at the definition of identity as a sociological concept: "meanings a person attributes to the self as an object in a social situation or social role."

Collective identity was the catalyst of social change during the 1960s and 1970s.

One of the most important gains of the 1950s and 1960s was the birth of a new kind of politics called "identity politics." Identity politics was based on strong collective identities which have the capacity to penetrate political life and exert pressure which eventually conduces to changes in policies and even mentalities. The major social paradox of the 1960s was that the peaceful fight for civil rights was met with violent opposition; nonetheless, political activists remained strong and left an immense legacy of social change achieved through relentless advocacy which remains a huge inspiration even today. However even prior to the 1960s and 1970s, there were certain public African-American figures that greatly influenced the struggle for equality of chances. One of these people was Jackie Robinson, the first African-American Major League Player of the modern era. His 1947 Major League debut represented an important step towards the end of racial segregation in sports. Similarly to most fields of activity in the United States, there was a strong barrier of color in sports, including baseball. Thesis: Jackie Robinson's contribution to the end of over 60 years of racial segregation was immense. This paper argues that it was through his 1947 debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers that Jackie Robinson made a significant impact on the color barrier in sports. However, Robinson's impact on racial segregation extended far beyond the baseball field. He was the first African-American Major League Baseball analyst, and the first vice president of a major American corporation. In addition, in the 1960s he contributed to the creation of the Freedom National Bank, an African-American owned and controlled entity based in New York which advocated civil rights.

The importance of baseball in American society cannot be doubted, and the impact of Jackie Robinson's life and career is a clear argument which supports this idea. Robinson was the first African-American in modern times to play in the major leagues. He succeeded magnificently because he was able to show more than the talent which would have simply made him a Hall of Fame player; Robinson was in many ways, a hero, comparable to any other hero in American popular culture. What transformed him from a great player into an icon was his involvement in the civil rights struggle which established him as the person to blaze the path that Martin Luther King would follow

Although by 1955 every Texas League club except Shreveport, Louisiana, had African-American players, the integration of the South was not unmarked by incidents. In 1952 African-American players began to appear on minor league clubs in the South. Due to low attendance, the Dallas Eagles of the Texas League signed former Homestead Gray pitcher Dave Hoskins who would become the "Jackie Robinson of the Texas League."

Hoskins took Texas by storm, and attracted large crowds as he posted a 2.12 earned run average and finished third in the league batting with a .328 mark. It was Hoskins performance that determined other teams throughout the South to sign African-American players, and in 1953, 19-year-old Henry Aaron desegregated the South Atlantic League which included clubs in Florida, Atlanta, and Georgia and Bill White appeared in the Carolina League. Aaron played for Jacksonville, a city that had denied Jackie Robinson that chance to play seven years earlier. By 1954, when the United States Supreme Court issued its historic Brown v. Board of Education decision ordering school desegregation, blacks had appeared in most Southern minor leagues

However, African-American players were faced with a great deal of opposition and obstacles prior to desegregation. In 1953 the Cotton States League barred brothers Jim and Leander Tugerson from competing, and the following year Nat Peeples managed to play for a team in the Southern Association but only for two weeks. For the rest of the 1950s, the league did not accept any African-Americans, a strategy which negatively affected attendance which in turn led to the collapse of the Southern Association in 1961. Young stars like Aaron, Curt Flood, Frank Robinson, Bill White and Leon Wagner were still faced with racial prejudice but they "took it out on the ball," as Curt Flood wrote, "What had started as a chance to test my baseball ability in a professional setting had become an obligation to test myself as a man."

Throughout the 1950s blacks appeared regularly among the league leaders of the Texas, South Atlantic, Carolina, and other circuits, advancing both their own careers and the cause of integration.

Rosa Parks refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus, children in Birmingham daring the dank jails so they could grow up to go to good schools and drink out of public water fountains, civil rights pioneers marching uprightly into torrential water cannon and snarling dogs.

Martin Luther King was the most prominent figure of the peaceful battle for civil rights. His methods included peaceful protests and inspirational speeches which mobilized audiences and helped create a sense of common identity and unity among Afro-Americans. The Black Power Movement came as a response to Martin Luther King's non-violent approach. Its leader, Malcolm X, constructed his discourse around the idea of racial pride and rejected integration and peaceful protests. Instead, he appealed to the rage that had accumulated in the Afro-American community as a result of injustice, inequality and discrimination.

For the first time, Afro-Americans saw themselves as a homogenous group with a common goal and a common oppressor to face. Neither these events that marked the struggle against segregation nor the appearance of these strong activists could be directly linked to Jackie Robinson but because he made the first step, it is safe to argue that millions of Americans made their own walk thinking it was in fact possible to make a change. From this point-of-view, Robinson was an inspiration, an image of heroism in the minds of those who needed the courage to keep striving for racial equality.

Branch Rickey was the general manager and co-owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers during the 1940s. His aim was to integrate major league players, and was looking for the ideal player that could help him achieve this goal, and this player was Jackie Robinson. Robinson was born in Georgia in 1919, and had four siblings -- three brothers and a sister. He was brought up in Pasadena, California, by his mother Mallie. Robinson's father, Jerry, left the family the year Jackie, who was the youngest of the five children, was born. One of Jackie's brothers, Mack, was the first to experience athletic success in the Robinson family by finishing second in the 200-meter dash at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin where African-American athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals

. Jackie Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College, and then UCLA where his talent in basketball, football, track and baseball was first truly noticed. His performances were nothing short of remarkable as he led his league in scoring in basketball, set a record in the broad jump, and achieved relative fame as a running back on the football team. However, at this point baseball was definitely not the center of his attention as far as sports.

When World War II erupted Robison had graduated college. He became a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. In July 1944, Robinson boarded a bus on his military base and was ordered to the back by his superiors. Military vehicles had been desegregated by then, so Robinson refused. He was taken to a guardhouse for questioning and later put on trial for insubordination but he was soon acquitted. His insubordination was consistent with his behavior at UCLA where he had established himself as a man who was not ashamed of his race. In fact, Robinson was proud of his racial and cultural heritage, a quality which would also attract his future wife while they were both still students… READ MORE

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