Have your ever faced a turning point that not only affected your self but your whole country? Turning points can often be very challenging and transforming to one’s life. This thought is reflected in the anecdote “Warriors Don’t Cry” by Melba Patillo Beals, the autobiography “I Never Had It Made” by Jackie Robinson, and the article “The Father of Chinese Aviation” by Rebecca Maksel. Melba Pattillo Beals, Jackie Robinson, and Feng Ru all dealt with turning points in which they responded bravely and in doing so changed their countries. Melba Pattillo Beals helped pave the way for education for blacks. Beals was one of the nine students chosen to integrated Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was guarded by “fifty uniformed soldiers”(Beals). The soldiers were there to keep her safe for there was much to fear including, violence, name calling, and being among an angry mob. The parents of the Little Rock Nine were sobbing as …show more content…
Robinson was the first African American to play in major league baseball. However this accomplishment was not as easy as it seems. He faced racial discrimination as he “had been forced to live with snubs and rebuffs and rejections” (Robinson). Jackie faced rejections not only from fans but also his own teammates. Similar to Beals, Robinson faced great threat and danger like “out-and-out attempts at physical harm” (Robinson). Despite all the hate, Jackie Robinson also had many followers and supporters. Most of Robinson's supporters were African American. His supporters “came to sit in a hostile audience in unprecedented numbers to make the turnstiles hum as they never had before at ball parks all over the nation.” Most of the blacks thought of Robinson “as a symbol” (Robinson). Acknowledgement began to grow as soon as profits for Jackie began to gain. Jackie Robinson created opportunities in baseball. As a result he changed himself and his
Jackie Robinson stands at front plate, with the bat gripped firmly in his hands. The crowd, rather than cheering, was booing and shouting at him. Racial slurs were throw before the baseball ever was, but Jackie kept calm. He couldn't let them win. The pitcher finally threw the ball. Crack! The ball sails over the stadium and the crowd is full of convoluted cries and shouts. Jackie jogged home. He had won that round.
Jack Roosevelt Johnson was born in the very segregated south in Cairo, Georgia around 1919. Jackie grew up loving baseball and knew that is what he wanted to do. About two decades before Jackie was born the MLB was split between white and Negro leagues. Jackie being an African-American, of course played for the Negro Leagues. He strived in this sport. He lead the Negro League with most stolen bases and had a great batting average. Both his statistics and love for the game brought the name Jackie Robinson to the attention of the Brooklyn Dodger's manager Branch Rickey.
America’s pastime has been complicated in the last couple centuries, and integration has been a really big key in the game of baseball. Like most of America in the 1940’s, baseball was segregated, whites playing in the Major League system and African-Americans playing in the Negro Leagues. There were many factors that made whites and blacks come together including World War II. Integration caused many downs in the time period but as baseball grew and grew it was one of the greatest accomplishments in the history. It was hard to find the right black man do start this, they needed a man with baseball abilities and a man who didn’t need to fight back.
Jackie Robinson decided to fight to be the first African American to integrate the Major League Baseball (MLB). His autobiography states he “was forced to live with snubs rebuffs and rejections” ( Robinson). This quote shows that he was treated unfairly and disrespectfully. In Robinson’s autobiography it also states that Jackie Robinson broke the racial barrier and created equal oppurtunity proving that a “sport can’t be called national if blacks are barred from it”
Beals made history When the Governor of the State didn’t let the Blacks into the High School so the President sent the Soldier of the 101st to the state to escort them through the mob of Angry Whites. During this people shouted ugly words,, raised their fist to the Blacks, and Looked horrified of the Blacks while Beals and the Other Little Rock nine were getting escorted through the Town to the School. Beals said ‘’Some of the White people looked horrified, While others raised their fist, others shouted ugly Words,’’ Beals reaction to this is she felt sad and proud she felt proud that the country would do all of this to escort them to the school but Beals was sad that they had to go to such great lengths. Beals said that ‘’She was proud that I lived in a country that would go this far to bring justice to a little tock Girl like me but sad that they had to go to such great lengths.’’ Then the Soldiers of the 101st made a protective cocoon, and escorted them through the mob of Whites that did not want the blacks to be in there society. How this event affected the society is when Beals went to school with other Whites she broke a little more of the Color Barrier. To Conclude Melba Beals changed the mind of some of the Whites, and break the color
Eventually, a federal court ordered Central High School in Little Rock to begin admitting black students in 1957 in order to begin the state's process of desegregation. Melba saw this as the perfect opportunity to make a difference in her hometown. She was one of nine courageous students who decided to attend the all-white Central High School. Although all the students knew it would not be easy to be the first black students to integrate, it was a lot more strenuous and difficult than anyone of them had imagined.
His period of trials and triumphs were significant to changing American perception for the Civil Rights revolution. By becoming the first African-American baseball player to play in the major leagues he brought down an old misconception that black athletes were inferior to white athletes. Successively his example would inspire those advocating for their civil rights, he lived out a message of nonviolence similar to the one Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. lived out. Despite the constant prejudice he faced in his sport, he was able to keep himself composed and never retaliate. Instead of fighting hate with hate, Robinson was able to gain the respect of his white peers for his calmness and his courage. In ending segregation in baseball before any other institution in America, Jackie Robinson demonstrated to American society that African Americans were to be treated with respect and dignity. Robinson was never afraid to speak up against injustices, on one occasion when a service station attendant refused to allow Robinson to use the restroom, Robinson protested by refusing to fill the bus’s 50-gallon tanks at that gas station (cite to pg 47). His protests are a foreshadowing of civil rights movements such as the montgomery bus boycott. Robinson’s moral indignation with the injustices in his world would serve to inspire
All three of these films discussed the importance of race in America and how whites treated people of other races during this time. The two films Soul of the Game and The Life of Jackie Robinson are both about African Americans and their struggle of being accepted into the world of baseball. The third film, Hank Greenberg is about the life of Hank Greenberg and how he, as a Jew, was both ridiculed and then accepted into the world of baseball. All of these players, although they were not liked at the time, have gone down in history as some of the best baseball players in history and are certainly well known.
On September 4, 1957, The Little Rock Nine of Little Rock, Arkansas, integrated Little Rock Central High School. As stated in “Parting the Waters”, Taylor Branch states “The day’s events opened the spectacular public phase of what became known as the Little Rock Crisis.” Living in the south during the time of segregation was hard on the colored people. Every day you had to be a warrior, whether it was taking on the government or simply taking a trip to the grocery store. Melba Beals was a warrior who used the method of reverse psychology. Every day she was faced with dreadful obstacles that would strike terror in her, but she didn’t show the white students of Central High that she was perturbed by what they did. Instead she would reply with
According to the Collins Dictionary, “freedom” is defined as “the state of being allowed to do what you want to do”(“freedom”). The definition of freedom is simple, but make yourself free is not easy. Concerning about some common cases which will take away your freedom, such as a time-cost high education attainment. In this essay, I shall persuade that everyone should try his or her best to insist on pursuing freedom. For the individual, it appears that only if you have your personal freedom, can you have a dream; for a country, it seems that only if the country is free, can the country develop; for mankind, it looks like that only if people has their own pursuit of freedom, can their thoughts evolve.
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play Major League Baseball. This was not an easy task for him to do. People judged him and didn’t like him by the color of his skin. Jackie Robinson said “The hate mail piled up” (Robinson). That shows that no one cared to give him a chance to play in the Major League. The innocence of young kids had a great inspiration on Jackie Robinson because they didn’t care about his color they just wanted him to play good. Jackie Robinson was “proud to be a part of a significant breakthrough” (Robinson) in breaking the color barrier. Even though Jackie Robinson has been through
Jackie Robinson overcame many struggles in life such as being included in the civil rights movement, facing discrimination, and he achieved being the first black man in major league baseball. He was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia on Hadley Ferry Road. It is a blue-collar town of about 10,000 people. Jackie Robinson became the first black player in the major leagues with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Even though he achieved this major goal he still had trouble getting there. He and his siblings were raised by his single mother. Jackie attended Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College. He was a great athlete and played many sports. He played football, basketball, track, and of course baseball. He left school in 1941, worked as an athletic director and played semiprofessional football for the Honolulu Bears before being drafted to the Army in 1942. While he was in the army he became close friends with Joe Louis. The heavyweight used his popularity to protest about the delayed entry of black soldiers. Two years later he got the honor to be second lieutenant in 1943. After an accident where he refused to sit in the back of an unsegregated bus, military police arrested Robinson. A duty officer requested this and then later he requested that Jackie should be court martialed. Since this happened Jackie was not allowed to be deployed overseas to the World War II. He never saw combat during the war. Jackie left the Army with an honorable discharge.
Breaking the Racial Barrier in Baseball Although Jackie Robinson was not the best African-American baseball player of his time, his attitude and ability to handle racist harassment led the way for the rest of his race to play Major League Baseball, amongst other sports. Being accepted into professional sports also helped African-Americans become more easily accepted into other aspects of life. Jackie's impact in the world for the black population is enormous. According to Jessie Jackson, "A champion wins a World Series or an Olympic event and is hoisted on the shoulders of the fans.
To the average person, in the average American community, Jackie Robinson was just what the sports pages said he was, no more, no less. He was the first Negro to play baseball in the major leagues. Everybody knew that, but to see the real Jackie Robinson, you must de-emphasize him as a ball player and emphasize him as a civil rights leader. That part drops out, that which people forget. From his early army days, until well after his baseball days, Robinson had fought to achieve equality among whites and blacks. "Jackie acted out the philosophy of nonviolence of Martin Luther King Jr., before the future civil rights leader had thought of applying it to the problem of segregation in America"(Weidhorn 93). Robinson was an avid member of the NAACP and helped recruit members because of his fame from baseball. Jackie had leadership qualities and the courage to fight for his beliefs. Unwilling to accept the racism he had run into all his life, he had a strong need to be accepted at his true worth as a first-class citizen. Robinson was someone who would work for a cause - that of blacks and of America - as well as for himself and his team.
A lady of courage and strength, often described as shy in her earlier life, she was the one to raise her voice against racial discrimination. The hero of our lives, Rosa Parks. Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913. She was a daughter to a carpenter James McCauley and a teacher Leona McCauley and also a granddaughter to an enslaved person (Rosa Parks Biography). “Rosa McCauley learned this "rectitude and race pride" from her grandfather, a supporter of Marcus Garvey” (Dunlap). She was two years old when she moved to her grandparent’s farm. Rosa attended “the Montgomery Industrial School for Girl” which was a private school “founded by a liberal minded women from the northern United States (Biography Rosa parks). She later grew up as an African American civil rights activists and a seamstress (Rosa Parks Biography).