Jackie robinson i never had it made

He recounts his political aspirations and civil rights activism; his friendships with Martin Luther King, Jr.

She had a brother, Burton, in California, and she planned to take us there. I went to school with Willa Mae, but I was too young to be enrolled in the school and my mother asked the teacher to allow Willa Mae to leave me in the sandbox in the yard while classes were going on.

Her great dream for us was that we go to school. Every morning Willa Mae put me into the sandbox, where I played until lunchtime, when school was dismissed.

To this day I have no idea what became of my father. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jackie robinson book summary

Hope and disillusionment in white politics --ch. I Never Had It Made recalls Robinson's early years and influences: his time at UCLA, where he became the school's first four-letter athlete; his army stint during World War II, when he challenged Jim Crow laws and narrowly escaped court martial; his years of frustration, on and off the field, with the Negro Leagues; and finally that fateful day when Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers proposed what became known as the "Noble Experiment"--Robinson would step up to bat to integrate and revolutionize baseball. Lincoln struck down. After the ball game --ch. He's not a perfect figure, of course, particularly in the surprisingly considerable post-baseball chapters, when he's operating in different fields and wherein he takes shots and settles some scores simultaneous with defending certain actions he undertook that were criticized at the time—notably in the arenas of politics [wasn't a fan of JFK, was one of Nixon, a predilection for Republicans that baffled the populace] and a Civil Rights movement with whom he disagreed about means and what he saw as an old guard calcification. Later, when I became aware of how much my mother had to endure alone, I could only think of him with bitterness. Alfred Duckett does a fine job of allowing Robinson's words to sound self-wrought upon the page, of the man himself: concise, clear, and to the point. Thenobel experiment --ch.

I Never Had It Made recalls Robinson's early years and influences: his time at UCLA, where he became the school's first four-letter athlete; his army stint during World War II, when he challenged Jim Crow laws and narrowly escaped court martial; his years of frustration, on and off the field, with the Negro Leagues; and finally that fateful day when Branch Rickey of the Brooklyn Dodgers proposed what became known as the "Noble Experiment" -- Robinson would step up to bat to integrate and revolutionize baseball.

My mother was thirty when we started out for California. He had never forgiven her for forcing my father to ask for moremoney, and he felt that she had somehow had a hand in my father's leaving the plantation.

Jackie robinson books

Thenoble experiment --ch. The rest of the time, I stole -- all sorts of small things from stores, particularly food -- and I was a member in good standing of the Pepper Street gang. Campaigning for Nixon --ch. In , Jackie Robinson broke that barrier, striking a crucial blow for racial equality and changing the world of sports forever. Our gang was made up of blacks, Japanese, and Mexican kids; all of us came from poor families and had extra time on our hands. She knew that her brother in California would help all he could, but he, too, had heavy responsibilities. While my mother was at work, my sister Willa Mae took care of me. Where better to begin hammering away at Jim Crow than via the bat and glove wielded within America's pastime? New horizons --ch. Some of it I put to good use -- I had a paper route, I cut grass and ran errands when I could. Everyone was very nice to me; however, I certainly was happy when, after a year of living in the sandbox, I became old enough to go to school. She didn't allow us to go out of our way to antagonize the whites, and she still made it perfectly clear to us and to them that she was not at all afraid of them and that she had no intention of allowing them to mistreat us.

After a long, tedious train ride across the country, we were generously received by Uncle Burton. Some of it I put to good use -- I had a paper route, I cut grass and ran errands when I could. TheHall of Fame Award --ch.

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