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ANNOUNCER:
Welcome to PEOPLE IN AMERICA, aprogram in Special English on the Voice of America. Today ShirleyGriffith and Rich Kleinfeldt tell about a man who changedprofessional baseball in the United States. Jackie RooseveltRobinson was the first black man to play in modern Major Leaguebaseball.
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VOICE ONE:
After World War Two, many Americans still believed that people ofdifferent races should not mix. In some parts of the country, blacksand whites lived in separate areas and went to separate schools.Blacks who tried to change the system risked being beaten or killed.
Blacks were not permitted to play on professional baseball teamsor in any other major league sport. No black man had played for amajor league baseball team since Eighteen-Eighty-Four. In that year,American baseball organizations agreed to bar blacks. That beganchanging when Jackie Robinson played his first game for New York’sBrooklyn Dodgers on April Fifteenth, Nineteen-Forty-Seven.
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VOICE TWO:
Jackie Robinson grew up in a family of five children in Pasadena,California, near Los Angeles. His father had left. His mother didnot earn much money, so Jackie Robinson learned to make his own wayin life. It was in California that Jackie Robinson first learned theugliness of racial hatred. White families who did not want to livenear them repeatedly tried to force them to move away.
Jackie Robinson established himself early as an athlete. He was astar player while attending the University of California at LosAngeles.
Jackie won honors in baseball, basketball, football and track. Hewas named to the All-American football team. He was considered thebest athlete on America’s west coast.
Jackie Robinson left college early because of financial problems.He joined the United States Army in Nineteen-Forty-One, during thesecond World War. He became a lieutenant after boxing champion JoeLouis pushed for Robinson to be trained as an officer. However,after three years, Robinson was dismissed from the army because heobjected to a racial order. He refused to move to the back of a bus.
VOICE ONE:
In Nineteen-Forty-Five, there were not many jobs open to a blackman, even someone who had attended college. Robinson wanted to playprofessional baseball. Blacks, however, were not permitted to playin the major leagues. So, he decided to play with the Negro BaseballLeague. The Negro League teams were started in the Nineteen-Twentiesto give black people a place to play baseball.
Many of the best baseball players in the United States played inthe Negro Leagues before white professional teams began acceptingblack players. The skills and records of black ball players were asgood as major league white players. It was a hard life for NegroLeague players. They took long trips by bus. They changed clothes infarmhouses and shared bath water with teammates. Many eating placesdid not serve food to blacks. They had to eat outside or on theroad. And they were not permitted to sleep at hotels for whites.Many players slept on the bus.
VOICE TWO:
Jackie Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs. It was oneof the most famous baseball teams in the Negro League. But, he wasunhappy in the Negro League because of the difficult life there. Ina statement from the book “The History of Baseball,Nineteen-Oh-Seven,” actor Ossie Davis expresses hope for change inthe sport.
OSSIE DAVIS: “Baseball should be taken seriously by the coloredplayer — and in this effort of his great ability will open theavenue in the near future wherein he may walk hand in hand with theopposite race in the greatest of all American games — baseball.”
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VOICE ONE:
In Nineteen-Forty-Five, Jackie Robinson signed an agreement withBranch Rickey to play for the Dodgers. Rickey was president of theteam. He wanted to find a black player who could deal with theinsults and racial pressure he would face in the league. He wanted ablack player who would show restraint at all times. Rickey thoughtJackie Robinson was good enough as a player and strong enough as aperson to succeed. He made Robinson promise that he would never showhis anger on the baseball field. Jackie Robinson accepted thatcondition. He said:
JACKIE ROBINSON: “I knew that I was going to be somewhat outfront and perhaps, I would have to take a lot of abuse. I knew thatthis was bigger than any one individual and I would have to dowhatever I possibly could to control myself.”
VOICE TWO:
Some observers said that Jackie Robinson was not the best playerin the Negro Leagues. Others said that he was chosen for hiscommunications skills and educational level and because he was anestablished sports star.
VOICE TWO:
David Faulkner wrote a book about Robinson’s life. It is called”Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson from Baseball toBirmingham.” In it, he talks about the end of racial divisions inbaseball.
DAVID FAULKNER: “For many years, there had been an activecampaign against segregated baseball led by Negro newspaper editorsand, strangely enough, by the Communist party, which from the middleNineteen-Thirties on, had actively campaigned against segregatedbaseball. There were a number of pending bills in differentlegislatures challenging fair employment practices. ByNineteen-Forty-Five, there was a lot of heat in a lot of differentareas — professional baseball was certainly feeling that. Robinsonin a sense was the right person at the right time.”
VOICE ONE:
Shortly after Jackie Robinson signed the agreement with theDodgers, he married Rachel Isum. They had three children. It wasimportant to Branch Rickey that Jackie Robinson be married. Hethought that the public would accept Robinson more quickly if he wasmarried. He thought that it would lessen the fears of white men thatwhite women would find Robinson desirable.
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VOICE TWO:
In Nineteen-Forty-Six, Jackie Robinson began playing for theDodgers’ minor league Canadian team, the Montreal Royals. Duringthat time, Branch Rickey tested Robinson’s ability to deal withracial pressure he would face in the major league.
In Nineteen-Forty-Seven, Jackie Robinson became the first blackto play modern major league baseball. He played for the Dodger’smajor league team, New York’s Brooklyn Dodgers. In doing so, thepressure increased. He received death threats on and off the field.During games, pitchers threw the ball at his head. Several teamsthreatened not to play against the Dodgers. And, some of his ownteam members tried to have him banned from the team.
It was not easy for Robinson on road trips, either. He was neverpermitted to stay at the same hotels or eat in the same places ashis white team members.
VOICE ONE:
Jackie Robinson had difficulty on and off the baseball field, buthe did not let that interfere with his game. He was a great playerand leader, winning the National League’s Most Valuable Player awardin Nineteen-Forty-Nine. He also led the Brooklyn Dodgers to sixleague championships and to baseball’s World Series Championship inNineteen-Fifty-Five.
Jackie Robinson helped show that blacks and whites could live,work and play together. He became a national hero to both black andwhite Americans because of his skill, bravery and restraint.Robinson’s success opened the door for other black athletes to playon all-white professional teams. Soon, other blacks began to appearon major-league teams. By the end of the Nineteen-Fifties, everymajor league team had black and Hispanic players.
VOICE TWO:
Jackie Robinson retired from baseball in Nineteen-Fifty-Six atthe age of thirty-seven. He became a businessman, a politicalactivist and a strong supporter of civil rights. InNineteen-Sixty-Two, Jackie Robinson was elected to baseball’s Hallof Fame, an honor given only to baseball’s best players. He died inNineteen-Seventy-Two. He was fifty-three years old.
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ANNCR:
This Special English program was written by Cynthia Kirk. It wasproduced and directed by Lawan Davis. The announcers were ShirleyGriffith and Rich Kleinfeldt.
I’m Mary Tillotson. Join us again next week for another PEOPLE INAMERICA program on the Voice of America.