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

Jody Victor – Let Us Have Peace

Hiram Ulysses Grant was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio on April 27, 1822 to parents, Jesse Root Grant and Hannah Simpson Grant, both Pennsylvania natives. The Grants traced their family ancestry back to Matthew Grant, who landed in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Hiram Ulysses was the firstborn of six children. In the fall of 1823, Jesse and Hannah Grant moved their family to the village of Georgetown in Brown County, Ohio. The young Hiram Ulysses Grant was small, sensitive and quiet. Growing up in Ohio he became well-known for his talent with horses.

When Grant was seventeen years old he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. His nomination to the academy was secured by Congressman Thomas L. Hamer. Congressman Hamer mistakenly nominated him as “Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio”. Grant adopted the name with the middle initial only at West Point. “Sam” became his nickname among his army colleagues since the initials “US” stood for Uncle Sam”. While at the academy he excelled in mathematics, writing, drawing and horsemanship.  He established a reputation as a fearless and expert horseman, setting an equestrian high jump record that lasted nearly twenty-five years. Ulysses S. Grant graduated from West Point in 1843.

Though naturally suited for the cavalry, Grant was assigned to duty as a regimental quartermaster to an infantry company in Missouri, achieving the rank of lieutenant. During the Mexican American War, Lieutenant Grant served under Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott. At Monterrey, he voluntarily carried a dispatch through a sniper-lined street on horseback. He was brevetted for bravery two times. At the time of the war Grant felt it was a wrongful war. He believed that the territorial gains were designed to spread slavery throughout the nation.

On August 22, 1848, Grant married Julia Boggs Dent, the daughter of a slave owner. Together they had four children: Frederick, Ulysses “Buck”, Ellen “Nellie” and Jesse. When the war ended, Lieutenant Grant remained in the army and was assigned to several different posts including Detroit, New York and the Pacific Northwest. Julia was eight months pregnant with their second child when Grant was sent to the Washington Territory. He left his wife and firstborn in San Francisco and made his way to Fort Vancouver. The journey was a difficult one and Grant narrowly escaped a cholera epidemic. At Fort Vancouver, Grant once again served as quartermaster. In 1854, he was promoted to Captain and assigned to command Company F at Fort Humbolt on the northwest California coast. Grant resigned from the Army abruptly on July 31, 1854, without any explanation.

Grant found himself a civilian at age 32 and struggled financially for several years. He labored on a family farm near St. Louis, Missouri, using slaves owned by Julia’s father. But the farm did not prosper. He worked briefly as a tax collector. In 1860, he moved his family to Galena, Illinois to be with his family. Grant tried farming again and insurance sales. Eventually he was given a job as an assistant in his father’s tannery. The leather shop, Grant and Perkins, sold harnesses, saddles, and other leather goods. Grant and his wife Julia were devoted to each other and loved raising their children together after all the years of separation during his years in the army.

When the American Civil War began in 1861, experienced officers like Grant were in short supply. The Governor of Illinois assigned him to make a disciplined fighting unit out of its rebellious Illinois volunteer regiment. Grant drilled the men and instituted badly needed discipline. He soon earned the respect of his volunteers. The U.S. Army noticed his efforts and promoted him to brigadier general. Grant led his troops to fight and win battles in the western theatre. He captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. He forced the surrender of Vicksburg, Mississippi and defeated a larger Southern force at Chattanooga. Grant helped end the bloody Civil War when he led Union troops to trap the main Confederate Army west of Richmond, Virginia and forced its surrender in April 1865. At that point General Grant was the most revered man in the Union.

In the Presidential Election of 1868, Grant was nominated by the Radical Republicans who wanted to protect the civil and political rights of African Americans. Grant’s campaign slogan, “Let Us Have Peace”, defined his motivation and contributed to his electoral success. The nation was more than ready to heal. Ulysses S. Grant became the 18^th President of the United States and the second President to hail from Ohio. He was the first U.S. President to be elected after the nation had outlawed slavery and given citizenship to former slaves by Constitutional amendments. President Grant maintained a strong concern for the plight of African Americans and native Indian tribes. His attempt to provide justice to Native Americans was a radical reversal of previous U.S. government policy. He told Congress, “Wars of extermination…are demoralizing and wicked.”  He lobbied, not always successfully, to preserve Native American lands from encroachment by the westward advancement of pioneers.

During his two terms in office, President Grant made many advances in civil and human rights. He signed bills promoting black voting rights and prosecuting Klan members. He won passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave freedmen the vote and the Ku Klux Klan Act, which empowered the president “to arrest and break up disguised night marauders.” President Grant was the first president to sign a congressional civil rights act. The law was titled the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and it entitled equal treatment in public accommodations and jury selection.

When he finished his two terms in office, Grant spent over two years traveling the world with his wife Julia. Everywhere they went the crowds waiting to see him were enormous. They dined with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and with Prince Bismarck in Germany. They visited Russia, Egypt, the Holy Land, Siam (Thailand), Burma and China. They were received in Japan by Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. There is a tree still standing today in Tokyo that Grant planted during his visit. While touring the world Grant remarked, “I appreciate the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally.”

The Grants’ trip around the world was very successful but also very costly. When they returned to America they had depleted most of their savings and Grant needed to earn money. He had forfeited his military pension when he assumed the Presidency. (Later Congress restored Grant to General of the Army with full retirement pay.) In 1881, he purchased a house in New York City and placed most of his financial assets into an investment banking partnership with Ferdinand Ward (suggested by his son Buck, who worked on Wall Street). In 1884, Ward swindled Grant and other investors, bankrupted the company and fled. With all his assets now depleted, Grant had to repay one of his creditors, William H. Vanderbilt, with his Civil War mementos.

Century Magazine approached him to write articles about his Civil War experiences. He discovered that he enjoyed the process and decided to compile his memoirs. Mark Twain offered Grant a generous contract for his memoirs, including seventy-five percent of the book’s sales as royalties. At the time he was writing his memoirs, Grant was suffering from throat cancer. He approached these last two battles as he had all others- with dogged determination. His final days were spent on his porch with pencil and paper in hand, wrapped in blankets and in fearsome pain. He completed the book just days before his death on July 23, 1885. Mark Twain promoted the book as “the most remarkable work of its kind since the Commentaries of Julius Caesar.” It was a huge success, selling over 300,000 copies. The book royalties earned Grant over $450,000, providing financial security for his family.