Jackie Robinson By Alex Sawyer Raymond
Chosen Photo Analysis
The Famous Photo Jackie Robinson Rounds Third By Ralph Morse Subway Series, New York 1955 Medium: Gelatin Silver
“PHOTOGRAPHY IS MORE THAN ART. IN PHOTOJOURNALISM, IT’S KNOWLEDGE”
-Ralph Morse-
Achievements: 1st Photographer with a camera on the moon - and still there. 30 years of service for LIFE Magazine.
Important Dates Born: Jan. 31, 1919 in Cairo, GA
Married: Rachel Issum, February 10, 1946
Years with Dodgers: 1947-56
Rookie of the Year award: 1947
Most Valuable Player (MVP): 1949
Inducted into Hall of Fame: 1962
Died: Oct. 24, 1972 in Stamford, CT
Early History 1919
1938
Jack Roosevelt Robinson is born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31st. His father leaves soon after and “Jackie” Robinson moves to Pasadena, California with his mother and 4 older siblings.
Elected to the All-Southland Baseball Junior College team and later honored as the region’s Most Valuable Player.
1935 Graduates from Dakota, Junior High School then attends John Muir High School, where he plays on the baseball, basketball, football, tennis and track teams.
1937 Attends Pasadena Junior College where he plays on the football and baseball teams and takes part in the broad jump.
1939 Attends UCLA, becoming the first student to earn a varsity letter in all four teams: baseball, basketball, football and track.
1941 Drops out of UCLA for financial reasons and travels to Honolulu to play football for the integrated, semi-professional Honolulu Bears. He returns to the U.S. mainland on December 5th, before the Pearl Harbor attack.
Military 1942 Drafted into the U.S. Army and promoted from Private to Second Lieutenant the next year.
1944 Court-martialed for refusing to sit in the back of a segregated military bus. He is later acquitted and honorably discharged from the Army.
Early Baseball 1945 Plays shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Baseball League. Recruited to the minor league Montreal Royals as second baseman by Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Signing 1947 Recruited to play for the Major League Brooklyn Dodgers. He was hand-selected by the President Branch Rickey and the Dodger organization (including part-owner, Vice President and General Counsel Walter O’Malley) to cross the precipitous color line.
Major League Debut When he crossed the white lines at the ballpark, Robinson tried to relax and focus on the game, not the constant catcalls. Off the field, the former UCLA foursport star would also deal with southern bigotry, anonymous death threats, racial slurs no colored served or housed here signs, and opponents who were out to injure him. Robinson, however, was bound and determined that he would perform to the highest level.
That he did.
In his first major-league at-bat, Jackie Robinson grounded out to third base.
Significance The social impact of Jackie Robinson’s inclusion into Major League Baseball in 1947 resonates as one of the civil rights movement’s most significant triumphs. For Robinson, the first African-American to have the opportunity to participate in the major leagues, it was all about playing the game.
Robinson promised Rickey that he would not fight back, other than with his bat and glove.
African American Firsts The first African-American to play on a Major League baseball team in the 20th century. The first Rookie of the Year Award is awarded to Jackie Robinson. The first African-American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The first Major League baseball player to be honored on a U.S. postage stamp. The first baseball player to have his uniform number (42) across all teams by the Major League.
The first UCLA student to earn a varsity letter in all four sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. The first African-American baseball player to receive the Congressional Gold Medal. The first African-American to serve as Vice-President of a major American corporation, Chock Full O’ Nuts 1957-1964.
Other Awards and Achievements Inducted into the UCLA Hall of Fame 1948
Honorary degree from the Howard University
NAACP’s Prestigious Springarn Medal
The Rookie of the Year Award is renamed the Jackie Robinson Award 1987
Elected to throw out the first ball at the 1972 World Series Honorary degree from the University of Maryland Honorary degree from Franklin Pierce College Honorary degree from Scared Heart University Honorary degree from Pace University
MLB All-Star: 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954
Sources “Jackie Robinson Biography - Black History -.” Biography.com. Web. 02 Dec. 2009. <http://www.biography.com/blackhistory/ featured-biography/jackie-robinson.jsp>. “Ralph Morse - Jackie Robinson Rounds Third @ GALLERYM.” GALLERY M: Fine Art, Photography, Sculpture. 1.877.331.8401. Web. 02 Dec. 2009. <http://www.gallerym. com/work.cfm?ID=507>. http://www.jackierobinson.com/about/bio.html