Melba Robinson Obstacles

How did three individuals change not only their own lives, but also the lives of others in their countries? Melba Pattillo Beals from the memoir, Warriors Don’t Cry, Jackie Robinson from the autobiography, I Never Had it Made, and Feng Ru from the article, “The Father of Chinese Aviation” written by Rebecca Maksel, all impacted their countries as well as changing their lives with hard work, dedication, and persever
Melba Pattillo Beals helped to break the color barrier while at the same time helping African American education to excel. Melba and eight fellow black students desegregated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. “We stepped up to the front door of Central High School and crossed the threshold into that place where angry …show more content…
Jackie Robinson was asked to become the first black player in Major League Baseball. Although it was difficult he decided to keep playing in the face of many challenges. “The hate mail piled up. There were threats against me and my family and even out-and-out attempts at physical harm to me.” “Some of my teammates refused to accept me” (Robinson). Robinson faced many obstacles. Although he was good at baseball it was difficult to play with all the hate. The hatred challenged Robinson by forcing him to face racial slurs, snubs, and physical threats from fans, teammates, and opponents who did not want a black man to play in the major leagues. “It hadn’t been that easy to fight the resentment expressed by players on other teams, by the team owners, or by bigoted fans screaming “n----.” I had been forced to live with snubs and rebuffs and rejections” (Robinson). White people did not want major league baseball to be integrated. This caused Robinson to grow and develop his ability to be tolerant and prove himself as an exceptional baseball player regardless of color. “It was one thing for me out there on the playing field to keep my cool in the face of insults” (Robinson). Jackie Robinson knew that even with all the threats and racism he could not get mad, he just had to ignore all of it. Robinson decided to continue playing baseball because he felt he owed it to the fans, both black and white, who supported and encouraged him. “Children from all races came to the stands. The very young seemed to have no hangup at all about my being black. But also there were people—neither black nor young—people of all races and faiths and in all parts of the country, people who couldn’t care less about my race” (Robinson). Many kids supported Jackie and even some adults supported him, but he still had to overcome threats and hatred. Robinson integrated Major League Baseball