The Rotary Club of Pismo Beach / Five Cites
Jacob Crisp, Second Place
Grade 5, Ocean View Elementary School
Teacher: Mrs. Gordon
Jackie Robinson was the first black baseball player to play in the Major Leagues in 1947. Back then there were two leagues, a Negro League and a Professional league that did not allow African- Americans to play in it. His breaking of the color barrier ended sixty years of segregation in professional baseball. He should have been allowed to play in the league years earlier as should many other players from the Negro League because the TRUTH was that a lot of them were better players than the ones on teams in the professional leagues.
Jackie Robinson is honored and appreciated by many athletes today, it is because of his hardships that he endured and overcame that today’s players have the salaries and lifestyles that they have in pro sports. It was FAIR that he finally got to play in the pro league because his talent was better than other players that were already in the league. He played for ten years and made the All-Star team six times.
He was looked up to by many African-Americans. When he broke into the Major Leagues the fan support by African-Americans was huge. In his first game, 14,000 of the 26,000 fans were African-American. Many of the white players were against him playing and they treated him unfairly. Segregation was alive and well in the U.S. at this time, Martin Luther King did not deliver his “I have a dream” speech until 1963. He was fighting for equality for African-Americans. His sacrifices helped bring about the Civil Rights Act of 1968. He helped to BUILD GOOD WILL by helping to bring down segregation.
Jackie Robinson was BENEFICIAL TO ALL CONCERNED. Martin Luther King said,” He was a legend and symbol in his own time.” Without his sacrifices and others like Rosa Park and Martin Luther King America would not be what it is today. We have equality for all races in America. Jackie Robinson said it best when he said,” I’m not concerned with you liking or disliking me.. .all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”