Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born 100 years ago Thursday, and his birthday falls one day before the start of Black History Month. Let’s take this opportunity to honor and celebrate his legacy, one that embodies struggle and sacrifice in the name of justice and equality.
You almost certainly know the basics of his story, that on April 15, 1947, he “broke the color line” by being the first black player in Major League Baseball. Actually, he was the first since Moses Fleetwood Walker, who played one season in the majors, back in 1884. You may not know some other elements of Robinson’s biography, including that he was named for Teddy Roosevelt, who had died 25 days before his birth; that he was a four-sport athlete at UCLA; that he served as an officer in the U.S. Army during World War II—and stood up against discriminatory treatment inflicted upon him while in uniform; or that after retiring from baseball he broke another barrier, becoming the first African American to serve as a Vice President at a large corporation (Chock Full O’ Nuts). You might know that he played a significant role in the civil rights movement after leaving baseball, sitting on the board of the NAACP and traveling widely to drum up support for the cause.
As for what Robinson accomplished in baseball—and what he had to go through in order to simply get on the field, let alone have a Hall of Fame career—that’s what made him a hero to me, and, I would hope, to every American. As a people, we need heroes to give us a sense of who we are, and in that regard we Americans can’t do much better than Jackie Robinson.
As for his importance, here’s what Martin Luther King Jr. said to Robinson’s black teammate, Don Newcombe, about the breaking of baseball’s color barrier: "You'll never know what you and Jackie and Roy [Campanella] did to make it possible to do my job."
The history of how Robinson got to the majors, the insults he faced and the bravery he showed in dealing with them, as well as the support he received from African Americans and white allies is too well-known to summarize here. It is important to note that his breaking of the color barrier, and the decision by Brooklyn Dodgers’ presidnet Branch Rickey to sign him and promote him to the major leagues, built on a much broader foundation:
Rickey's plan came after more than a decade of effort by black and left-wing journalists and activists to desegregate the national pastime. Beginning in the 1930s, the Negro press, civil rights groups, the Communist Party, progressive white activists, and radical politicians waged a sustained campaign to integrate baseball. It was part of a broader movement to eliminate discrimination in housing, jobs, and other sectors of society. It included protests against segregation within the military, mobilizing for a federal anti-lynching law, marches to open up defense jobs to blacks during World War II, and boycotts against stores that refused to hire African Americans under the banner "don't shop where you can't work." The movement accelerated after the war, when returning black veterans expected that America would open up opportunities for African Americans.
I am pleased to see that this anniversary of Robinson’s birth is getting the attention it deserves. On his birthday, the New York Times published a special 24-page commemorative section called “42 at 100.” I can’t remember ever seeing anything comparable published in the Times simply to celebrate someone’s birth. There were numerous commemorations and celebrations held across New York City on his birthday, and Major League Baseball will be holding events all year long in addition to their annual Jackie Robinson Day, held every April 15, on which everyone wearing a uniform (even the umpires), wears Robinson’s #42.
A new Jackie Robinson Museum—created by the foundation started by his widow, Rachel (still going strong at 96 years old)—is slated to open this December. This week, their daughter Sharon offered the following thoughts:
My dad fought his entire life for equity and justice. To now have a museum that children and adults can come to and learn about the history, but more importantly, a place for them, we hope, to share their ideas on race, religion. Let them really talk about how they're feeling and their experiences.
Although this post is not about me, I’d like to briefly share how Jackie Robinson influenced my life. He has long been a personal hero and a role model. I’ve loved baseball since I was six years old. When I first started watching, there were black players everywhere, and the biggest stars in the game were black. My favorite candy as a kid had a black man’s face and name plastered all over the package (seriously, who wouldn’t love peanuts and caramel covered in chocolate?). At that age, I had no idea there had been a time not long beforehand when Reggie Jackson couldn’t have hit three home runs in one World Series game because he would not have been allowed to play at all.
Then I learned more. I learned about the history of baseball, and of our country. I learned about those who fought for equality, to help America move closer to achieving its founding ideals, as well as those who fought against them. Robinson’s fight for justice helped shape my worldview, helped me decide what was right and what was wrong.
On a more individual note, in whatever struggles I dealt with (quite minor in comparison to anything faced by Robinson, let alone any African American of his day), his example inspired me. It didn’t matter that he didn’t look like me. I saw someone who fought for what was right, and who overcame great obstacles. In doing so, he changed not only baseball but made the country I loved a more just place by helping millions achieve a greater measure of the equality our most sacred documents promised them. That touched me as a young person, and it still does today.
America has a long way to go on the road to becoming a perfect union. It’s doubtful we’ll ever reach a time and place where there is no hatred, no mistreatment of anyone on the basis of who they are and how they identify themselves, if that is the definition of perfection. Are we closer to perfect than we were when Robinson was born, and on the day before he climbed the dugout steps at Ebbets Field? Yes, we are. As we Americans continue the struggle toward perfection, heroes like Jackie Robinson give us hope that our struggle can succeed. In that way, he’s still out there fighting today, right alongside us.
Ian Reifowitz is the author of The Tribalization of Politics: How Rush Limbaugh's Race-Baiting Rhetoric on the Obama Presidency Paved the Way for Trump (forthcoming in May 2019).