Jackie Ronbinson

Jackie Robinson: The Musician, Not the Instrument

Hard working and diligent employees all provide products or services that benefit society or create revenue. But who receives the credit, the employee or the company? Today in the world of athletics this relationship, between employer and employee, is demonstrated. Athletes are, arguably, forms of entertainment that generate money, and the twentieth century is when athletes started to play professionally. During this time, African Americans started to move forward towards equality and civil rights. A great example would be the star athletic performer Jackie Robinson whose been hailed as the twentieth century’s desegregator of professional baseball, but he has also been seen as the white man’s product.

Robinson was the first black Major League player which broke the separation between races in baseball. Son of a sharecropper and a descendant of slaves, Robinson was brought up by a mother who believed in values such as kindness and work ethic (Falkner). Throughout high school, Robinson was heavily recruited for college sports and he chose UCLA. Here he excelled and became a star athlete; lettering in track, football, basketball, and baseball. Towards the end of his college career, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and war ensued. Robinson was drafted and during his campaign, just like every other aspect of life, the service was segregated. Blacks were ordered to ride in the back of the bus and as more whites needed seats, blacks would be kicked off to make room. Robinson got into multiple instances of misconduct including the first in which was his famous bus incident. When he got on a bus, he noticed one of his fellow black offer’s wives sitting alone and he decided to sit next to her. When the bus driver saw the situation, he stopped and told him to move to the back. Robinson refused and was shoved off the bus by military police and forced into custody (Falkner). His integrity and standpoint on...