The man who broke Major League Baseball's color barrier never forgot the indignities of his first trip to spring training.
By Chris Lamb
February 27, 2012
On Feb. 28, 1946, Jackie Robinson and his wife, Rachel, boarded an American Airlines flight in Los Angeles bound for Daytona Beach, Fla., for spring training. There he would try to prove that he was good enough to join the Montreal Royals, the top minor league team in the Brooklyn Dodgers' organization, and integrate professional baseball.
It would be more than a year before Robinson played his first game with Brooklyn, on April 15, 1947, breaking Major League Baseball's color line and forever changing baseball and society.
The story of the integration of baseball was perhaps the most important story involving racial equality in the years immediately following World War II. "Back in the days when integration wasn't fashionable," the Rev.Martin Luther King Jr. said of Robinson, "he underwent the trauma and humiliation and the loneliness which comes with being a pilgrim walking the lonesome byways toward the high road of freedom."
Never before — or since — had so much been riding on an athlete in surroundings so hostile as the Deep South in 1946, where racial discrimination was legal and brutally enforced, and where blacks who challenged it were jailed, beaten or lynched.
Robinson grew up in Pasadena and attended Pasadena Junior College before he transferred to UCLA. The former four-sport athlete at UCLA was keenly aware of the risks involved with challenging Jim Crow on its own soil. He also knew he was putting his wife's life in jeopardy by taking her on the trip to Florida. The couple had been married less than three weeks.
Unlike Rachel, who had never been in the South, Jackie had searing memories of what had happened to him a year and a half earlier at Ft. Hood, Texas. In July 1944, Robinson, then a lieutenant in the Army, was ordered to the back of a city bus, and refused. He didn't back down and when the bus returned to the military base, he was arrested and subsequently court-martialed for insubordination. Robinson was exonerated and then discharged from the Army in late 1944.
If Robinson had not been court-martialed, he probably would have remained with his battalion and been shipped to Europe, and Dodgers President Branch Rickey would have signed someone else. Instead, Robinson was playing for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues when Rickey was searching for the right player to integrate baseball. Rickey secretly signed Robinson to a contract in August 1945, after receiving the ballplayer's assurances that he would have "guts enough not to fight back" against racial epithets, spikings by cleats and worse, that no matter what came Robinson's way, he would restrain himself.
Two months later, the Montreal Royals announced it had signed Robinson. When black America learned about the signing, the things denied for so long suddenly seemed possible. Ludlow Werner, editor of the New York Age, a black weekly, wrote that Robinson "would be haunted by the expectations of his race.... White America will judge the Negro race by everything he does. And Lord help him with his fellow Negroes if he should fail them."
The racial climate in the United States at that time — especially in the South — was tense, unpredictable and violent. In return for fighting for their country in World War II, black veterans wanted racial equality when they returned home. Instead, many were killed to teach them their place.
A few days before the Robinsons left Los Angeles, racial tensions erupted in Columbia, Tenn. A black woman and her son, who had recently been discharged from the Navy, complained to a white merchant about a radio he was supposed to have repaired. The merchant slapped the woman. Her son then shoved the merchant through the store's plate-glass window. The next morning, hundreds of law enforcement officers and white townspeople converged on the town's black section, destroying homes, businesses and churches, and beating up and arresting black citizens. More than 100 blacks were jailed and two were shot to death while in custody.
The Robinsons flew through the night that February and landed in New Orleans. After a layover they were scheduled to fly to Pensacola, Fla., before going on to Daytona Beach. When the Robinsons lined up to board the plane for Pensacola, they were told they had been bumped. When they tried to get something to eat at a segregated restaurant in the airport, they were prohibited from entering.
Twelve hours after they had landed in New Orleans, the Robinsons boarded a flight to Pensacola. When they landed to refuel, a flight attendant asked them to exit the plane. Once the Robinsons were on the tarmac, they were told that bad weather was expected so the plane needed to add more fuel. To counter the weight of the additional fuel, three passengers — the Robinsons and a Mexican woman — had to be removed. As Robinson listened to the explanation, he saw white passengers board the plane. Robinson felt a growing sense of rage, but remembering Rickey's words, he choked back the anger.
Instead of waiting for the next plane, the Robinson took a Greyhound bus across the state to Daytona Beach. They relaxed in reclining seats at the front of the bus. When white passengers boarded the bus at the next stop, the driver pointed a finger at the Robinsons and ordered them to the back of the bus. He called Jackie "boy." Robinson, knowing that an incident of any kind might jeopardize what was called "baseball's great experiment," did as he was told.
Nearly 36 hours after the Robinsons left Los Angeles, the couple — hungry, tired and angry — arrived at the Daytona Beach bus station. They were met by Wendell Smith and Billy Rowe, journalists with the influential black weekly the Pittsburgh Courier.
"Well, I finally made it," Robinson snapped, "but I never want another trip like this one."
Robinson stayed up into the early hours of the morning bitterly recounting what he and his wife had been through, seething over what the Greyhound bus driver had called him. "He was very annoyed and hurt," Rowe later remembered. "He had been called a 'boy.' This man had become a 'boy.'"
Robinson told Smith and Rowe he did not think he could get a fair tryout in Florida and said he wanted to quit and return to the Negro Leagues. Smith and Rowe talked with him, explaining — as Rickey had — that it was important for him to suffer certain indignities so other blacks could follow him. "We tried to tell him what the whole thing meant, that it was something he had to do," Rowe said.
Chris Lamb, a professor of communication at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, is the author of the forthcoming book, "Conspiracy of Silence: Sportswriters and the Long Campaign to Desegregate Baseball." Email: lambc@cofc.edu
It would be more than a year before Robinson played his first game with Brooklyn, on April 15, 1947, breaking Major League Baseball's color line and forever changing baseball and society.
The story of the integration of baseball was perhaps the most important story involving racial equality in the years immediately following World War II. "Back in the days when integration wasn't fashionable," the Rev.Martin Luther King Jr. said of Robinson, "he underwent the trauma and humiliation and the loneliness which comes with being a pilgrim walking the lonesome byways toward the high road of freedom."
Never before — or since — had so much been riding on an athlete in surroundings so hostile as the Deep South in 1946, where racial discrimination was legal and brutally enforced, and where blacks who challenged it were jailed, beaten or lynched.
Robinson grew up in Pasadena and attended Pasadena Junior College before he transferred to UCLA. The former four-sport athlete at UCLA was keenly aware of the risks involved with challenging Jim Crow on its own soil. He also knew he was putting his wife's life in jeopardy by taking her on the trip to Florida. The couple had been married less than three weeks.
Unlike Rachel, who had never been in the South, Jackie had searing memories of what had happened to him a year and a half earlier at Ft. Hood, Texas. In July 1944, Robinson, then a lieutenant in the Army, was ordered to the back of a city bus, and refused. He didn't back down and when the bus returned to the military base, he was arrested and subsequently court-martialed for insubordination. Robinson was exonerated and then discharged from the Army in late 1944.
If Robinson had not been court-martialed, he probably would have remained with his battalion and been shipped to Europe, and Dodgers President Branch Rickey would have signed someone else. Instead, Robinson was playing for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues when Rickey was searching for the right player to integrate baseball. Rickey secretly signed Robinson to a contract in August 1945, after receiving the ballplayer's assurances that he would have "guts enough not to fight back" against racial epithets, spikings by cleats and worse, that no matter what came Robinson's way, he would restrain himself.
Two months later, the Montreal Royals announced it had signed Robinson. When black America learned about the signing, the things denied for so long suddenly seemed possible. Ludlow Werner, editor of the New York Age, a black weekly, wrote that Robinson "would be haunted by the expectations of his race.... White America will judge the Negro race by everything he does. And Lord help him with his fellow Negroes if he should fail them."
The racial climate in the United States at that time — especially in the South — was tense, unpredictable and violent. In return for fighting for their country in World War II, black veterans wanted racial equality when they returned home. Instead, many were killed to teach them their place.
A few days before the Robinsons left Los Angeles, racial tensions erupted in Columbia, Tenn. A black woman and her son, who had recently been discharged from the Navy, complained to a white merchant about a radio he was supposed to have repaired. The merchant slapped the woman. Her son then shoved the merchant through the store's plate-glass window. The next morning, hundreds of law enforcement officers and white townspeople converged on the town's black section, destroying homes, businesses and churches, and beating up and arresting black citizens. More than 100 blacks were jailed and two were shot to death while in custody.
The Robinsons flew through the night that February and landed in New Orleans. After a layover they were scheduled to fly to Pensacola, Fla., before going on to Daytona Beach. When the Robinsons lined up to board the plane for Pensacola, they were told they had been bumped. When they tried to get something to eat at a segregated restaurant in the airport, they were prohibited from entering.
Twelve hours after they had landed in New Orleans, the Robinsons boarded a flight to Pensacola. When they landed to refuel, a flight attendant asked them to exit the plane. Once the Robinsons were on the tarmac, they were told that bad weather was expected so the plane needed to add more fuel. To counter the weight of the additional fuel, three passengers — the Robinsons and a Mexican woman — had to be removed. As Robinson listened to the explanation, he saw white passengers board the plane. Robinson felt a growing sense of rage, but remembering Rickey's words, he choked back the anger.
Instead of waiting for the next plane, the Robinson took a Greyhound bus across the state to Daytona Beach. They relaxed in reclining seats at the front of the bus. When white passengers boarded the bus at the next stop, the driver pointed a finger at the Robinsons and ordered them to the back of the bus. He called Jackie "boy." Robinson, knowing that an incident of any kind might jeopardize what was called "baseball's great experiment," did as he was told.
Nearly 36 hours after the Robinsons left Los Angeles, the couple — hungry, tired and angry — arrived at the Daytona Beach bus station. They were met by Wendell Smith and Billy Rowe, journalists with the influential black weekly the Pittsburgh Courier.
"Well, I finally made it," Robinson snapped, "but I never want another trip like this one."
Robinson stayed up into the early hours of the morning bitterly recounting what he and his wife had been through, seething over what the Greyhound bus driver had called him. "He was very annoyed and hurt," Rowe later remembered. "He had been called a 'boy.' This man had become a 'boy.'"
Robinson told Smith and Rowe he did not think he could get a fair tryout in Florida and said he wanted to quit and return to the Negro Leagues. Smith and Rowe talked with him, explaining — as Rickey had — that it was important for him to suffer certain indignities so other blacks could follow him. "We tried to tell him what the whole thing meant, that it was something he had to do," Rowe said.
Chris Lamb, a professor of communication at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, is the author of the forthcoming book, "Conspiracy of Silence: Sportswriters and the Long Campaign to Desegregate Baseball." Email: lambc@cofc.edu
I know very little about the history of baseball, but I am a little familiar with Jackie Robinson. I think he was an extraordinary man on top of his athletic accomplishments. For him to say nothing after all the unfair treatment him and his wife had been through was impressive. I think his wife should be commended too. Not every wife would continue to stick around in a situation like that. The whole plane fuel situation was terrible. How convenient that the passengers that just had to go were minorities? I don't think I would've handled that as well. It is sad that racism was so blatant and pervasive at that time. Yet people still went on with their lives, going to school, going to work, (or in Jackie's case) going to play major league sports.I often think if it wasn't people like him some of us would still be stuck in the same mindset they had in the fifties. Any African-American or minority baseball player show be thankful to Jackie's bravery and determination. Also, I think Jackie's legacy should continue to be talked about and used to inform the youth of the racial climate at that time.
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ReplyDeleteI find it astonishing that society had been so perversely racist back in Jackie’s time. The unethical treatments of minorities were very harsh, and I found it very terrifying that African Americans were considered somewhat less than human. The part about him getting court martialed for such a simple act of defiance was quite intriguing. The military was actively supporting segregation, which was completely normal at the time. Getting rid of the colored passengers during the fuel problem was also quite unethical from a 21st century standpoint. However, with the progression of humanity and society, many things today would be considered absurd in the future, as hindsight is always 20/20. While my knowledge of baseball is sparse, I have read about Mr. Robinson’s career in my middle school days. Being the first man of color to be playing Major League Baseball was quite a feat indeed. It must have been tremendously difficult for him to keep his cool and control himself from talking back to individuals trying to suppress his freedom. His determination and perseverance had ultimately set a prime example for progressive racial reform in America.
ReplyDeleteIt is extremely sad what many families and individuals had to go through every day of their lives. I am glad things have changed and now everybody could do simple things like eat at the same places, and enjoy the same things. We are all to be treated equally regardless of color, culture, and race.
DeleteI think it’s crazy how things are just meant to be. Robinson was treated unfairly and indifferent scenarios would have played it would have never been the legend he is today. Like how the piece by Chris Lamb says, “If Robinson had not been court-martialed, he probably would have remained with his battalion and been shipped to Europe, and Dodgers President Branch Rickey would have signed someone else.” It is just amazing how events in life happen, and how those events can make a difference in many lives. Robinson never gave up even though the racism was strong, and baseball was not always for blacks. I look up to people how never give up regardless of how ugly a situation is. Robinson had the same rights and opportunities as any other person on this earth. Never giving up is a proven fact; and we should keep pushing even when there are those with so much negativity.
ReplyDeleteI must admit that at the time period when Jackie Robinson but has been in the same time period of the zoot suit riots in Los Angeles, California. When the sailors would go to the barrios, Mexican-American neighborhoods, to cause trouble and when the Mexican-Americans fought back they would get arrested and beaten. However, I remember watching a documentary about it and how the Mexican-Americans would be supported by the African-Americans to fight back against the Whites. I am also very proud of the Latin celebrities like Rita Hayworth and several more who had tried to get involved in the events of the zoot suit riots. And, I HATE how ignorant the whites were to mistreat the African-Americans who fought alongside them in the war. The story of Jackie Robinson is only one story of so many stories that are not always reported or told. Thus, stories like this one makes me wonder what is the importance in color and why does having light skin make any difference? I come from a family of a Latin background and I have a light skin complexion based off my mother's family, but honestly I wish I had an appropriate skin color to my ethnicity. In most cases people think I am white until I open my mouth to speak and they can tell I have an accent. Either way I truly believe that everyone should have pride with their culture but NO ONE should think that a race or skin color is better than another. Plus, if they're religious makes it more ironic and hypocritical that they do not love thy neighbor like they love thyself no matter what skin color or race.
ReplyDeleteJackie Robinson is a name I have heard before; I didn’t know much about him other than him being the first African American to play in an all white baseball league. I knew that he went through plenty of hardships due to the white community not being very happy about him joining the league. I knew someone once who told me that Robinson was their hero and I agreed that he was someone that should be considered a hero, because any normal person wouldn’t have gone through what he went through. Most people would have thought it was too dangerous to try and change the world, especially if they had just gotten married because not only would they putting themselves in danger they’d also be putting their loved ones in danger as well. To have the strength to overcome all those obstacles is truly amazing, but to do it without ever once fighting back is even more remarkable. Jackie Robinson is truly a remarkable person who will always be remembered for the great things he did and the doors he opened to help other people like him.
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting story. You hear a lot about the African American pioneers who fought for equal rights, but not much about the athletes and their triumphant experiences and courage they endured. athletes like Jackie Robinson are too pioneers in the sports world. Jackie knew that both him and his could be in danger and sacrificed so much because he knew what was riding on his shoulders. He knew that if he could be successful on this baseball team, it might just break through enough barriers to allow other African American athletes to have the same opportunity.
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