Jackie Robinson Civil Rights Movement Analysis

Improved Essays
How does the film portray the period and events?
Jackie Robinson is an example of an aspiring individual who had great potential and experience to thrive in his dream; however, his dreams are forced to stall because of the prejudice and violence he faces for being black. Brian Helgeland’s 42 (2013) portrays what other African Americans were forced to undergo using Jackie Robinson's treatment and experiences. These events reflect the ideologies during the Civil Rights Movement. Robinson encounters segregation in the North and South. This occurs when he faces harassment for staying in a white community, hate letters desiring Robinson to kill himself, prejudice given off his teammates, bigotry from the airport when they give up his seat to a white
…show more content…
As an activist, he urged baseball to use its economic power to desegregate Southern towns, hotels, and ballparks (History.com Staff). According to History.com’s article on Jackie Robinson, they state his outspoken words of opposing racial discrimination and Jim Crow laws had influenced baseball to sustain black achievements and white goodwill. Not only baseball, but Robinson also managed to praise for more African American employment opportunities (History.com Staff). This is applicable to Jackie Robinson’s legacy because he had offered to the success of the Civil Rights Movement. The film should have also focused on the more realistic and violent harassment given off from trying to integrate baseball. Doing so would’ve offered the audience a better interpretation of how sadistic this time period had really been. For instance, a white racist approached the home Robinson was staying in for a while. The white racist provoked and threatened Robinson to believe. In normality and likability, the white racists would’ve threatened Robinson with racial slurs or pragmatically physical …show more content…
From being oppressed consistently by the majority, the minority group comes together for security and closure. For instance, in the film, Rickey allows Robinson’s wife, Rae, to come along with Jackie to his games. Rickey only does this for Jackie and not the other baseball players. He does this so Jackie can feel more comfortable and safe throughout his journey. Not only does Rickey allow his wife to tag along, but also a news reporter who follows Jackie Robinson to record his story. Both the news reporter and Jackie’s wife are both African Americans and Rickey offers Jackie their company so he can have someone he can talk

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Robinson was the first African American to ever play professional baseball and changed many people’s lives, but nothing came easy for him as he was tormented, abused, and heckled night in and night out. In 1946 history was made; Jackie Robinson became the first ever player to play in a professional baseball game with an African American in it. This was a big for the sport and country as many did not agree with this. For Robinson, he was excited to get the…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Jackie Robinson was the first African-American to play in the major leagues, signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Robinson was the most talented baseball player on the field, and he helped his team to the championship. Robinson made a difference in the community by showing that blacks and whites can play the most popular sport together. That was a problem that Robinson was on the field, but his teammates eventually treated him like he was somebody because of how the opposite team and crowd would act toward him. The courage he had to handle the segregated but equal helped with the civil rights movement.…

    • 313 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    During the 1940’s there were two major leagues. The white league and the negro league. The two leagues had always been separated until the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers chose Jackie to play on their team. According to the reading Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player to play in the major white league.…

    • 171 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Overall baseball “had brought the races together” (Barber 3) through Jackie Robinson although it “didn’t open the flood gates of integration in Major League Baseball” (Barber 3). Jackie “forever changed the game of baseball” (Barber 1) and his jersey “number 42 has been retired in every ball-club” (Frick 5) is the only number to every be retired due to Jackie’s bravery and heroics. Even though the big event in 1947 was the first African-American to play in the MLB, there were a lot of first for many sports. The “fans began to choose the starting lineups for the Major League All-Star Game with a mail-in ballot” (Barber 8) which is huge to get the fans involved because the All-Star Game is mainly for the fans.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He also spoke against the slow pace of baseball integration. Robinson wanted to use baseball's economic power by getting other ball players involved to desegregate southern towns, hotel, and ballparks. Jackie Robinson's career was not easy. On the road he was forced to stay in separate hotels, and not only were the fans and media racist toward him, but also some of Jackie Robinson's teammates were as well.…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ruth changed the way baseball was played , Jackie Robinson changed the way Americans thought. Robinson showed why he was a leader along with Babe Ruth. But other baseball or African American players looked up to him for what he did , and went through. Jackie showed important things by proving to everybody that he can be a leader , and that all the racial things people were saying can’t stop you from what you want to be in life. While Jackie Robinson was an amazing role model and leader , heroes are not…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From the start of his career Jackie was tested. Rickey talked to Robinson that it wasn’t goanna be easy so he asked him not to fight back when racism occurred. Jackie was faced with many insults including virulent racism, beanballs, hate mail, and death threats (“Jackie Robinson”). Even some of his teammates did not like the thought of having an African American on the team (“Robinson Biography”). It open the doors for other African American players such as Satchel Paige, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron.…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It’s was hundreds of negro ballplayers that was equal or better than Jackie,but nobody else had that character Jackie had and that's what Branch Rickey was looking for to change the game of baseball. Rickey said he “wanted somebody who had the courage not to fight back”. Jackie then knew him playing in the big leagues was bigger than just playing a game of baseball it was for the whole black racial group. Rickey then signed Robinson to a minor league contract. Jackie was praised all across the world for him breaking the color barrier of baseball.…

    • 577 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many people know, or have heard the name Jackie Robinson, but many don’t know who he really was. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, and desegregated the game of baseball. It’s important to know who he is because he not only made changes for equality on the field, but also off the field. To learn what kind of person he was, and his inspiration, we have to learn more about his life. In this essay you will learn about his early life, his career, his accomplishment, his hardships, and most importantly, his influence on desegregation.…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Jackie Robinson’s American Dream The American Dream has been a prevalent concept in America since the turn of the twentieth century. As with many concepts, The American Dream is unique for each individual depending on their experiences. However, for Jackie Robinson and Andrew Carnegie the definition of the American Dream was similar, but because of their circumstances they took different paths to achieve their goals.…

    • 1549 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Movie 42 Essay

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The film 42, produced by Thomas Tull, tells the story of Jackie Robinson’s heroic effort to integrate Major League baseball. The film, which was released on April 12, 2013, shows how Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) and Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Bosemen) endure countless amounts of taunting, resistance, and violence. This film review will discuss the characters and the impact they had on Robinson, the plot, and the consistent “personal relationship” theme. Of all the characters throughout the film, Branch Rickey, Jackie Robinson, Rachel Robinson, and Wendell Smith are the few that stick out. Branch Rickey, the general manager for the Brooklyn Dodgers, appears to be the type of person who doesn’t let the potential consequences get in the way…

    • 1010 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These 3 chapters were the first point of the timeline the author foreshadows. The author does a great job detailing Jackie's growing up era and summing it up in three chapters. The author describes what it was like for Jackie all the struggles and success that came upon him and his family at the time. He compared and related his life to everything else going on through America. The main focus of the author when comparing and relating these situations was segregation and everything that came along with it.…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    During that time in the late 1940s, World War II had just ended and the soldiers, all from different ethnic groups, got to come home. Although black men had fought for their country and awarded for their valor in the war, when they returned to the USA, they came home to racism and Jim Crow Laws still restricting the African-American population. Jackie Robinson himself was an army officer in the war who had been arrested and court-martialed during boot camp for refusing to go to the back of a segregated bus. In the movie, it shows segregation between black and white people through sports, mainly baseball. Through Jackie’s journey in baseball in the film, viewers can see the struggle in Jackie being a black man playing baseball which was, at that time, considered a “white sport.”…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rickey met with Robinson in a three-hour meeting. During the meeting, Rickey tried to incite and enrage the 26-year-old, Robinson... he succeeded, but only verbally in doing so. Rickey asked Robinson if he could face the racial insults from fans and players without reacting angrily (a genuine concern, given Robinson 's actions and subsequent legal complications while attending Pasadena City College and during his military service). Robinson 's response, "Are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?"…

    • 1045 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Never in baseball has a number been more cherished and respected than the number 42. Today it has become a national icon – a symbol of the past and a treasured reminder for the future. Jackie Robinson changed the game of baseball forever, becoming the first African-American to enter the major leagues with the help of Branch Rickey, the owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The movie 42: The Jackie Robinson Story richly displays the career, involving the highs and lows, of Jackie Robinson, and his emergence as one of the influential and trailblazing baseball players of all time.…

    • 1529 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays