The history books tell us that back in 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers led by team executive Branch Rickey, rolled the dice and comprised the experiment that led to Jack Roosevelt Robinson to become the first Black to integrate Major League Baseball. Nearly 76 years removed from that historic event, this may not seem like such a big deal to one who chooses to only glance at this occurrence. But for those who owned citizenship in America or chose to look a bit deeper into why this was a “big deal”, it becomes clearer that this was so much more than just a sports story.
Jackie Robinson signs historic MLB contract in 1947 with Brooklyn Dodgers as GM Branch Rickey looks on
Leading up to and including 1947, America was an extremely unstable reality for citizens of color. The bundle of the basic symbols of citizenship (Civil Rights Act-1964, Voting Rights Act-1965 and Fair Housing Act-1968) were nearly two decades away. During this era it typically was the entertainment or sports arena that was accepted by the so-called mainstream if one derived from the minority community. Even at that, the sports arena was still reluctant to comply in that athletes were revered as heroes that even kids looked up to which placed a different spin on the topic.
Reprint from Lenny Moon
Reprint from Lenny Moon
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