The Noble Experiment

Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, inCairo,Georgia, during a Spanish flu and smallpox epidemic. His middle name was in honor of former President Theodore Roosevelt, who died 25 days before Jackie was born. Jackie was the youngest of five children. The Robinsons were sharecroppers. One year after Jackie was born his father left the family. His mother, Mallie Robinson, moved the family toPasadena,Californiaand single-handedly raised her five children. She worked various odd jobs to support her family. They were the only black family on the block. The prejudice they encountered only strengthened their family bond.

Jackie Robinson graduated fromWashingtonJunior High Schoolin 1935 and enrolled atJohnMuirHigh School(Muir Tech). Jackie’s older brothers Mack and Frank inspired him to pursue his interest in sports. Mack was an accomplished athlete at the time having won the silver medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics. At Muir Tech, Jackie played several sports at the varsity level and lettered in four of them: football (quarterback), basketball (guard), baseball (shortstop and catcher), and track. On the track team he won awards in the broad jump. Jackie also was a member of the tennis team. In 1936, he won the junior boys singles championship in the annual Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament. He earned a place on thePomonaannual baseball tournament all-star team, which included future baseball Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Bob Lemon.

Following graduation from high school Robinson attended Pasadena Junior College (PJC). He continued his athletic career participating in football, basketball, baseball and track. In 1938, he was selected as the region’s Most Valuable Player in baseball. While attending PJC he also was elected to the Lancers, a student-run police organization that patrolled various school activities. Robinson was one of ten students named to the school’s Order of the Mast and Dagger, which was awarded to students who performed “outstanding service to the school and whose scholastic and citizenship record is worthy of recognition.”

Following graduation from PJC in the spring of 1939, Robinson transferred to UCLA. He became the school’s first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was one of four black players on the football team. At the time only a handful of black players existed in mainstream college football, making UCLA’s college football program the most integrated. In 1940, Robinson won the NCAA Men’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship in the Long Jump, jumping 24’ 10.5”. In his senior year Robinson met his future wife, Rachel Isum, a freshman who was familiar with his athletic career. In the spring semester of 1941 Robinson left UCLA just short of graduation due to financial difficulties, despite his mother’s and Rachel’s reservations. He took a job as an athletic director with the government’s National Youth Administration (NYA) inAtascadero,California. When the government ceased the NYA programs Robinson traveled toHawaiiin the fall of 1941 to play football for the semi-pro, racially integrated Honolulu Bears. After one season he returned toCaliforniato pursue a career as running back for the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the Pacific Coast Football League. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ended his football career.

In 1942, Robinson was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit inFort Riley,Kansas. He and several other black soldiers applied for Officer Candidate School (OCS). Even though the OCS guidelines had been drafted as race-neutral few black applicants were admitted until directives from Army leadership enforced them. Robinson and his colleagues’ applications were delayed for several months. Heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis (stationed atFortRiley) and Truman Gibson (aide to the Secretary of War) protested the delay and got their applications moving. Upon finishing OCS Robinson was commissioned as a second lieutenant in January 1943. Soon after, Robinson and Rachel Isum were formally engaged.

Robinson was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texasand joined the 761^st “Black Panthers” Tank Battalion. On July 6, 1944, Robinson’s military career was abruptly derailed. While waiting for hospital tests on the ankle he had injured in junior college Robinson boarded an Army bus with a fellow officer’s wife and although the Army bus was un-segregated the bus driver ordered Robinson to the back of the bus. Robinson refused. The driver backed down, but after reaching the end of the line he summoned the military police. They took Robinson into custody. Robinson confronted the investigating duty officer for his racist questioning. The officer recommended Robinson to be court-martialed. After Robinson’s commanding officer refused to authorize the court-martial Robinson was quickly transferred to the 758^th Battalion. The commander there quickly consented to the court-martial and charged him with more offenses, including public drunkenness- even though Robinson did not drink. By the time of the court-martial in August 1944 the charges against Robinson were dropped to two counts of insubordination during questioning. Robinson was acquitted by an all-white panel of nine officers. Although his former unit, the 761^st Tank Battalion, became the first black tank unit to see combat in World War ll, Robinson’s court-martial proceedings kept him from being deployed overseas and he never saw combat action. After his acquittal Robinson was sent toCamp Breckinridge,Kentucky, where he served as a coach for army athletics. He received his honorable discharge in November 1944.

Robinson returned briefly to his old football club, the Los Angeles Bulldogs. He then accepted an offer from his old friend and pastor, Reverend Karl Downs, to be the athletic director at Sam Houston Collegein Austin, Texas. The job included coaching the fledgling basketball team. The team was so new that he even had to insert himself into the lineup for exhibition games. And even though his team was outmatched by its opponents, Robinson gained respect as a disciplinarian coach. He drew the admiration ofLangstonUniversitybasketball player Marques Haynes, a future member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

In early 1945, while Robinson was at Sam Houston College, the Kansas City Monarchs sent him an offer to play professional baseball in the Negro leagues. Robinson accepted a contract for $400 dollars a month ($5,164 in today’s money). Robinson was frustrated playing for the Monarchs with the hectic travel schedule, the disorganization, and the embrace of gambling. He was used to the structured playing environment of college. In all, he played 47 games for the Monarchs, with five home runs and 13 stolen bases. During the season Robinson pursued major league interest. The Boston Red Sox held a tryout for Robinson and other black players. The tryout was essentially a farce designed to assuage the desegregationist sensibilities of powerful Boston City Councilman Isadore Muchnick. The fans in the stands subjected Robinson and the other black players to racial slurs. He left the tryout humiliated. It was more than 14 years later that the Red Sox became the last major league team to integrate.

Other teams had real interests in signing a black player. Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, began to scout the Negro leagues to add black players to their roster. Rickey selected Robinson from a list of promising black players and interviewed him forBrooklyn’s International League farm club, the Montreal Royals. Rickey was especially interested in finding a black player who could weather the inevitable racial abuse. In the now-famous three-hour interview Rickey asked Robinson if he could face the racial animus without taking the bait and reacting angrily. Rickey told Robinson he needed a black player “with guts enough not to fight back.” Robinson made the commitment to “turn the other cheek” and signed the contract. Their arrangement was kept secret for a time. On October 23, 1945 it was publicly announced that Jackie Robinson would be assigned to the Royals for the 1946 season. In what was later referred to as “The Noble Experiment”, Robinson was the first black player signed to baseball’s minor leagues.

Robinson’s first season with the Royals was challenging, starting with spring training. His presence was controversial in racially chargedFlorida. He was not allowed to stay with the team. Instead he stayed with a local black politician. At the time the Dodgers did not own a spring training facility. The scheduling of training games was subject to the whim of area localities. InSanford,Florida, the police chief threatened to cancel games if Robinson did not cease training there. InJacksonville, the stadium was padlocked shut without warning on game day. In DeLand, a scheduled game was called off due to the excuse of faulty electrical lighting. After much lobbying by Rickey himself the Royals were allowed to host a game inDaytona Beach. Robinson made his debut on March 17, 1946. Robinson thus became the first black player to openly play for a minor league team and against a major league team since the first de facto baseball color line had been implemented in the 1880s. Robinson proceeded to lead the International League that season with a .349 batting average. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player. More than one million people went to games involving Robinson in 1946. Also in 1946, Jackie Robinson married Rachel Isum, his college sweetheart. Rachel and their three children helped to provide Jackie with emotional support and a sense of purpose all through his challenging early baseball career.

The following year, just six days before the start of the 1947 season, the Dodgers called Robinson up to the major leagues, bringing an end to sixty years of segregation in professional baseball. At the end of his rookie year he had become National League Rookie of the Year with 12 home runs, 29 steals, and a .297 average. In 1949, he was selected as the National League’s Most Valuable Player of the Year. Having started playing late (at the age of twenty-eight), Robinson played only ten seasons, all for the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his career the Dodgers played in six World Series. Robinson played in six All-Star Games. Robinson exhibited the combination of hitting ability and speed, which marked the beginning of the post-“long ball” era in baseball. Raw power-hitting gave way to balanced offensive strategies to create runs through aggressive base running. Robinson was one of only two players during the span of 1947 to 1956 to accumulate at least 125 steals. He accumulated 197 steals in total, including 19 steals of home. Jackie Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me…all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”- Jackie Robinson

Jody Victor

A Divided Duty

Ida B. Wells was born on July 16, 1862 inHollySprings,Mississippiduring the second year of the Civil War. She was the oldest of seven children. Her father, James Wells, was a carpenter and her mother, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Warrenton Wells, was a famous cook. Both were slaves. Thus Ida was born a slave. One year after Ida’s birth President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Her father became involved in politics and was known as a “race man”, someone who worked for the advancement of African Americans. Ida’s lifelong interest in politics and dedication to setting and achieving goals was inspired by her father’s public involvement. James Wells was a member of the Loyal league, attended public “speakings” on the court house steps, and campaigned for local black candidates. Ida’s mother was a religious woman and strict disciplinarian. Both parents emphasized the importance of education. Emancipation brought the legalization of Negro education and many Negro schools were established throughout the South.ShawUniversity(now calledRustCollege) was established inHollySpringsin 1866. Ida and her siblings attended Shaw. Her mother attended Shaw as well as she wanted to learn how to read the Bible. Ida wrote in her autobiography that “our job was to go to school and learn all we could.” She developed an intense love of words and reportedly read every book in the school library.

In 1878, at the age of sixteen, Ida B. Wells’ life changed forever. She was visiting her grandmother in theMississippiValleywhen she received word that her hometown ofHollySpringshad suffered a yellow fever epidemic. Both her parents and her youngest brother, who was 10 months old, had died in the epidemic. Ida was encouraged to remain in the country with her grandmother until the epidemic subsided. Despite the warnings of doctors Ida returned home right away saying, “I am going home. I am the oldest of seven living children. There’s nobody but me to look after them now.” After the funerals, relatives and friends decided that the remaining six Wells children should be sent to various foster homes. But Ida resisted the decision. To keep her younger siblings together she dropped out ofShawUniversity. She changed her appearance to look older than her mere sixteen years and passed the qualifying exam for a teacher’s position, finding work six miles away in a black elementary school. Her grandmother, along with other relatives and friends, stayed with the children during the week while Ida was away teaching. “I came home every Friday afternoon, riding the six miles on the back of a big mule. I spent Saturday and Sunday washing and ironing and cooking for the children and went back to my country school on Sunday afternoon.”

Wells resented that white teachers were paid $80 a month while she was paid only $30 dollars. This discrimination made her even more interested in racial politics and improving the education of black children. In 1883, she took three of her younger siblings toMemphis,Tennessee, to live with their aunt and to be closer to other family members. She discovered that she could earn a higher wage there as a teacher. She was soon hired inWoodstockfor theShelbyCountyschool system. During summer vacations, Wells attended summer sessions atFiskUniversity, a historically black college inNashville. She also attended LeMoyne Institute. By the fall of 1884 Ida had qualified to teach in the city schools and was assigned a first grade class.

Ida B. Wells continued to hold strong political opinions and spoke up everywhere she went for women’s rights. Her career as a writer was sparked by an incident that occurred on May 4, 1884. A train conductor on theChesapeakeand Ohio Railroad ordered Wells to give up her seat in the ladies’ car and move to the smoking car, which was already crowded. When she refused, the conductor attempted to physically remove her from her seat. It took three men to remove her from her seat and rather than move to the smoking car, she got off at the next stop to the cheers of the white passengers on the train. When Wells got back toMemphisshe immediately hired a lawyer to bring suit against the railroad company. The court returned a verdict in her favor. The presiding judge stated that the railroad company violated the separate but equal clause by forcing her to ride in the smoking car that was separate but not first class, which Wells had paid for. Heartened by her victory and eager to share her story Wells wrote an article for The Living Way, a black church weekly. It was so well received that the editor of the church weekly asked her to contribute more articles. She began her own weekly column under the pen name “Iola”. She wrote her articles in a plain and simple way so that the people who had little or no school training could find help with their problems. Soon her articles were appearing in prominent black newspapers across the country.

In March 1892, racial tensions were rising in Memphis. Violence was common place. The KKK established a “reign of terror”, murdering and lynching innocent blacks. Their white neighbors looked the other way. Once again tragedy struck Ida B. Wells in what became known as the “Lynching at the Curve”. Three of her close friends opened the People’s Grocery Store. The store was directly across the street from a white-owned store, which had enjoyed a monopoly up until then. The People’s Grocery Store was successful. A white mob gathered to run the black grocers out of town. Warned by the building mob, the black men armed themselves and in the ensuing confrontation wounded three white men who had invaded their store. The next day white newspapers exaggerated accounts of the previous day, claiming that “Negro desperados” had shot white men. The paper’s depiction gave rise to another mob that stormed the jail cells of the three black men and killed them. The Lynching at the Curve marked the beginning of Wells’ anti-lynching campaign. Wells spoke out against the lynching in an editorial in the Free Speech. She urged blacks to “save our money and leave town”. In two month’s time, six thousand black people leftMemphis. Wells remained and continued to write scathing editorials against lynching. She gave public speeches on the subject and organized blacks in an effort to abolish the practice. Wells also began a comprehensive study of lynching. At a conference of black women’s clubs she was given $500 to investigate and publish her findings. Wells found that many blacks were hung, shot, and burned to death for trivial things, such as not paying a debt, testifying in court, stealing hogs, and public drunkenness. Her findings caused outrage in the white community. A mob destroyed the office of her newspaper and threatened to kill her. At the time Wells was speaking inPhiladelphia. Unable to return to her home, she re-settled inChicagoand continued her anti-lynching campaign.

In 1895, Ida B. Wells married Ferdinand L. Barnett, aChicagolawyer, activist, and editor. She set an early precedent by keeping her last name along with her husband’s. Barnett was the owner and founder of the first black newspaper in Chicago, the Chicago Conservator. Ida Wells Barnett bought the Conservator from her husband and took over the duties of editor. Her marriage caused quite a stir. Many were concerned she would give up her cause and retire to home and children. Wells gave birth to their first child in 1896. Throughout her son’s infancy, Ida continued to travel, write, and encourage women to organize. The following year she gave birth to another son. She gave up public work and retired to give her attention to “the training of my children”. Ida had two more children, both girls.

Ida B. Wells returned to public life to continue her organizing efforts. In 1910, she formed the Negro Fellowship League (NFL). The NFL was housed in a three-story building inChicago. It served as a fellowship house for new settlers from the South. It also provided a space for religious services, an unemployment office, and as a homeless shelter for men. She became one of the founders of the NAACP. In 1913, she established the first black women’s suffrage club. She marched in a suffrage parade and met with President McKinley about a lynching inSouth Carolina. Following World War I she covered various race riots and published her reports in pamphlets and in newspapers nationwide. In 1930, she began her autobiography, A Divided Duty. She never finished it; the book ends in the middle of a sentence, in the middle of a word. She died in Chicago on March 25, 1931.

“The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press.” – Ida B. Wells

Jody Victor