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Jackie Robinson
Term Paper ID:41055
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Essay Subject:
Using Jules Tygiel's Baseball's Great Experiment Jackie Robinson and His Legacy to discuss race ...... More...
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4 Pages / 900 Words
1 sources, 9 Citations,
APA Format
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Paper Abstract:
Using Jules Tygiel's Baseball's Great Experiment, Jackie Robinson and His Legacy to discuss race relations in America, Jim Crow laws, and how Robinson helped to dismantle aspects of racial prejudice and discrimination.
Paper Introduction:
Breaking the Race Barrier Jackie Robinson and Baseball In Baseball\'s Great Experiment Jackie Robinson and His Legacy JulesTygiel illustrates how one professional American sport baseball used its influence to make a dramatic statement regarding race relations Branch Rickey the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers was responsible forbringing Jackie Robinson into major league baseball as its first blackplayer He was willing to confront racism and it is to his courage inchallenging an entrenched social ideology that much of Robinson\'s ownsuccess is owed Tygiel
Text of the Paper:
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What it demonstrated,perhaps, as Tygiel (1983) suggests, is that attitudes toward "race mixing"were changing and that a new era in race relations was about to begin. He was willing to confront racism and it is to his courage inchallenging an entrenched social ideology that much of Robinson's ownsuccess is owed (Tygiel, 1983). Even thoseon the team and in the media who were skeptical about such a decisionultimately (and rather quickly) found that what Robinson brought to thegame and the team and the major league baseball was something magical -something that was much more significant in the long run than his race(Tygiel, 1983). Whileit would be premature to suggest that the placement of Jackie Robinson on amajor league baseball team - and the fan support and enthusiasm thisengendered - was the critical element in bringing about this transformationin domestic race relations, it was a seminal event. While players and coaches on the Dodgersfor the most part accepted Robinson as he demonstrated his playing skill,"black ballplayers encountered their most severe hardships when the teamwent on the road" (Tygiel, 1983, p. As noted byTygiel (1983), Myrdal argued that a major social change was underway inAmerica and that this change would ultimately transform the country. The fact that Robinson himself wasa master of the game and an exciting player capable of attracting massivefan support certainly helped make this decision a popular one. Even inbringing Robinson onto their team, the management of the Dodgers found itnecessary to hire another black athlete to room with him on road trips.However, as Robinson trotted around the bases after hitting a three-runhomer on his first day in the league, even Southern players like MarvinRackley congratulated him; team manager Clay Hopper, a Mississippian whohad initially resisted the decision to bring Robinson on board was able togive his a part on the back (Tygiel, 1983). (1983). Such coverage helped to breakdown the stereotypes that America had long accepted as valid. New York: Oxford University Press. Breaking the Race Barrier: Jackie Robinson and Baseball In Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy, JulesTygiel (1983) illustrates how one professional American sport, baseball,used its influence to make a dramatic statement regarding race relations.Branch Rickey, the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers was responsible forbringing Jackie Robinson into major league baseball as its first blackplayer. Even as more and more African-Americans began playing in the major leagues, de facto and de juresegregation made it necessary for them to stay in black-only hotels and toeat in segregated restaurants. This kind ofimpact was far beyond the capacity of even "America's game." On balance, the point being made by Tygiel (1983) is that the move byRickey and the Dodgers and the performances of Robinson and other prominentearly black players did send a message that change was possible. This was the very first time that anAfrican-American athlete had competed alongside whites in professional teamsports in America - breaking the so-called "color line" and sending themessage that at least one institution in American society would not shyaway from addressing a complex and challenging social issue. While baseball could and did help tonormalize social interactions between the races on the field and in thestands, it did not in and of itself change America overnight. 28 ). Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy. Favorable presscoverage of Robinson and other black players presented them as positivecontributors to the game and to society. Jim Crow laws in the American South (and elsewhere, if the truth istold) and other forms of institutional racism that mandated separateschools for Blacks, supported residential segregation and segregation ofthe races in hotels and other public places - these were keycharacteristics of American society in 1946 (Tygiel, 1983). It should also be noted that the mass media, specifically sportsjournalists, helped to popularize Robinson (Tygiel, 1983). It was able to flout the colorline because of fan support, because of the fact that athletic competitionin and of itself is a great leveler, and because America was perhaps moreready to acknowledge the need to overcome institutional racism thanpolitical and other pundits recognized. Tgyiel (1983), citing a book written by social scientist GunnarMyrdal, suggests that America was perhaps far more receptive to a change inrace relations than most people realized in the late 194 s. The country, thoughofficially a land of equality and parity for all citizens regardless ofrace, gender or creed, was in fact deeply divided on issues related torace. Tygiel (1983) makes it clear in his narrative that baseball wastaking a risk in putting Robinson into play. It isperhaps best to conclude as Tygiel (1983) does that by challenging thestatus quo, Rickey and Robinson set into motion a train of events thatwould dramatically reshape American race relations. ReferenceTygiel, J. The effect ofthis bold move would ripple through all levels of society and become theharbinger of real change in America. What Tygiel (1983) suggests in his analysis is that baseball was asport capable of creating instant heroes. This situation continued longafter Robinson debuted with the Dodgers. Tygiel (1983) makes it clear that the struggle to integrate baseballdid not end with Robinson's entry into the major leagues or when he led histeam to the 1947 World Series. A rippleeffect can therefore be attributed to baseball's embracing of blackathletes. It alsohelped to encourage activist African-Americans to confront racism in otherareas, including education, housing, and public transportation.
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