Jackie Robinson & Jesse Owens By Scott Gibian Mr. Goldfarb s Class 3/23/2012
Introduction Would you have believed that Jackie Robinson could make it to the Major Leagues, or steal on a major league field? Or would you have thought Jesse Owens could prove German leader Adolf Hitler he was just as good as him or any other German? Most people did not think they could do it, but they did it anyway because they knew they could do it. They knew they could prove them all wrong, and for doing that Jackie Robinson and Jesse Owens are American heroes because they overcame challenges mentally and physically. Jim Crow laws and segregation In the 1800 most whites didn t believe that blacks should have rights. Blacks and whites didn t share much at all. They didn t share bathrooms, schools, or water fountains and more, and the whites facilities were always in better shape. Believe it or not this unfair treatment was part of the law in the south. These laws were called Jim Crow laws. Jim Crow Laws were to keep blacks and whites separate. Childhood Jesse Owens was born in Alabama in 1913. When Jesse was 8 his family moved to Ohio. While the Owens were there people were vary racist to them. For example, Jesse would race at recess and the other kids would tease him calling him names. Jesse s real name was James but a teacher mixed up his name and it just stuck. Jesse also moved to Cleveland as a child. Jesse was a very sick child. He had many problems with his lungs. At one point his parents didn t think he would make it. Jesse s family was very poor. So, they couldn t hire a doctor to help him, and they had to help him the best they could. Young Sports Career When Jesse was 14 his Jr. High coach invited him on the track team. Jesse called him Coach Riley. Coach Riley and Jesse practiced every morning because Jesse couldn t practice in the afternoon because he had to work to make money for his family.
In Jr. High Jesse still didn t have great lungs like from his childhood, but coach R. helped him get better by making him practice every morning. Jesse broke many records and was an outstanding athlete and due to that he got an offer from Ohio State, but the next thing he would do was what every athlete dreams to do! 1936 Olympic Games All hail Hitler. All hail Hitler, is what you heard at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin where the German leader, Adolf Hitler was attending the Olympics. Hitler was the German ruler and didn t like anyone who wasn t German and didn t like people without blond hair and blue eyes and especially didn t like Jews since they didn t come up to his standards. Hitler sent people to capture Jews and bring them to these camps where they eventually were killed. Hitler also was a big dictator. Hitler hated Jesse Owens because of how he looked. Luz Long was Germany s best jumper and had a good chance of winning the gold, but Jesse beat him for the gold. However, Owens and Long became great pals. Jesse never saw Luz again after the Olympics because Luz was killed in World War II. Jesse visited with the Long family and became quite good friends with the Long family. Jesse came in first for almost everything he was in. In the end, Jesse won 4 track and field gold medals. Jesse was the star of the 1936 Olympics and Germany was very sad. Jesse had proven Adolf Hitler wrong. A black man could do anything a white man could do. After the Olympics, Jesse became This is Jesse with his good pal Luz Lungs. This is Jesse bolting off at the starting line a legend and an inspiration to all people who were mistreated because of their race or religion.
Family Jesse married his high school sweetheart, Ruth Soloman. They got married in 1936. By the time Jesse was 27 he already had a wife and three daughters. Their names were Gloria, Beverly and Marlene. Beverly even won the Prom Queen at Ohio State and she was the first black person to be prom queen at Ohio State. Legacy Once Jesse was finished track and other sports he wanted to go to college to finish his schooling so he helped track coach Lacey Snyder. During Jesse s second year of college, he realized he would never graduate because his grades were not good enough. Jesse dropped out of college to be head of a national physical fitness organization. Jesse became a very good public speaker and he used his experiences as a model to others. Jesse served as the Secretary of the Illinois State Athletic Commission. In 1956, Owens organized the Jr. Olympic games for kids ages 12-17. He began a public relations business in Chicago and he had a Jazz program on Chicago radio. Jesse was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1976. He was inducted into the US Olympic Committee Hall of Fame. Jesse got lung cancer which ended up leading to his Here is Jesse as a older man. Here is Jesse getting some love from his wife and mother. death since he was a huge smoker. He died at the age of 67. After his death, President Bush presented Jesse s family with the Congressional Gold Medal in 1990. Jackie Robinson Child Hood Jackie was born on January 31, 1919 in Georgia. He was the youngest of 5 children. His dad left his family when Jackie was a baby. A little after Jackie s dad left Jackie s mom s brother asked the family to move to Pasadena where he lived. Jackie was still very young. Here is Jackie his mother, sister, and three brothers.
Most of the whites in Jackie s neighborhood didn t like a black family on their block so they were very mean to the Robinson family. One time Jackie and his brother, Mack, got in a fight with a white boy and the kid s dad called the cops. Jackie got into trouble as a kid. He stole things and the cops watched him very closely. Jackie s family and friends talked him into staying out of trouble. One thing he did to stay out of trouble was play on lots of sports teams. Jackie played football, basketball and his favorite baseball. He played all of these sports at UCLA. Jackie was a very skilled athlete. Jackie was drafted to the army. He wanted to be an officer, but the army didn t want blacks to be officers because they didn t want black people to be in charge of whites. But a group of black army men, including Jackie and heavy weight champ Joe Lewis protested and they got what they wanted. Jackie had a very interesting childhood and life as a young man. Here is Jackie playing baseball, football, basketball, and track. The Negro Leagues The first all black team was the Cuban Giants. It was started by some waiters from Babyloni, New York. They spoke Spanish since whites wouldn t come to the game with all blacks. Before Negro leagues they had Barnstorming where you would just play teams that wanted to play you. With barnstorming you could play 1-3 games a day. The conditions were bad. Players slept on buses and did not eat in many restaurants. They played wherever they had a chance to play. The Negro Leagues were a league for African Americans. Since the Cuban Giants were a This is the Cuban Giants the first negro league team hit, other teams used the name Giants. Most Negro League teams were in big cities like New York City or Pittsburgh. This is a map of different Negro league teams and where they were located. Here is Rube Foster the founder of smart baseball.
Rube Foster came up with the idea of playing smart baseball, which kept the Negro Leagues organized like MLB (Major League Baseball). The Negro League was different than the MLB. The players had a lot less rules. Jackie was on the Kansas City Monarchs. Family Here is Jackie hanging with the family. Jackie got married to Rachel Isum in 1946. Before the 1947 season, Jackie had a wife and his first son, Jackie Jr. was born. Once Jackie retired, he took a job close to home to be close to his family. His family was his wife Rachel and their children Jackie Jr., Sharon and David. Jackie always wished he could have been close to his family. Making History Jackie s first team was the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro League. One day, Branch Ricky sent a scout out to find a good strong black player. Rickey wanted a black man on his team that could be harassed and teased but not fight back and Jackie was strong and his own person that didn t let people boss him around. Here is a family photo of the Robinsons. Jackie was confused at first why Branch Rickey wanted to meet him so bad, but soon figured out Rickey wanted him to be the first African American in the Major Leagues. This is Jackie on the manarchs. Branch told Robinson he wanted him on his team, but said he couldn t respond to the racist remarks or he couldn t fight back. Rickey was worried because Jackie had a short temper reputation. Jackie agreed and on October 25, 1945 Jackie signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Branch and Jackie. People thought Branch Rickey was out of his mind, but Branch Rickey knew it was a risk and knew it would change baseball. He was willing to take that challenge on.
The main reason Branch Rickey wanted Jackie was because he was determined and because Jackie would help win Brooklyn the World Series. When Branch was a college coach he had a black player and one night the team was on the road and walked into a hotel and the hotel refused to give Branch s players a room but Branch convinced the hotel to let him sleep on a cot in his room. That night, Branch walked into the room and his player was crying on his cot asking why he can t be white? So from that day on Branch promised himself he would make how Black people were treated better. That is why Branch wanted a black man in the majors. People said Jackie wasn t good enough for the Majors so Branch sent Jackie to a farm team. A farm team is the step before the majors to get you ready for the major leagues. It helps you to improve your skills. People who figured out that Jackie had been drafted were furious. They couldn t believe what Branch had done. It took Jackie one year on the farm team, and then he was ready for the Dodgers. At the beginning of the season, two teams already said they would not play Jackie. The Baseball Commissioner said if they refused to play the Dodgers than they couldn t play anyone so they said they would play Jackie. Jackie s first Major League game was at Ebbet s Field on April 15, 1947. When Jackie walked onto the field he was booed, laughed at and teased a lot. But Jackie had to ignore them. His first hit was a ground out, but his second was a 3- run homer. By the end of the game he had four hits, four runs batted in and two stolen bases.
Challenges A challenge for Jackie was during his first season. His training camp was segregated. The pitchers would throw the ball right at Jackie. Also, the fans were horribly mean to Jackie. He got many death threats, but Jackie was never really hurt. Even after 4 seasons, people still were discriminating against Jackie. But by the end of his career he was respected by most fans. Accomplishments In 1950, Jackie had a movie made about his life and he starred in it. In 1962, Jackie was the first black player in the Hall of Fame. In 1997, after Jackie had passed away, Major League Baseball retired Jackie s number 42. Jackie had a lifetime of accomplishments. Legacy Jackie played 10 seasons with the Dodgers and then retired in 1957. When Jackie retired he said Branch Rickey was like a dad to him. Jackie wrote a book about his days as a Dodger and how he never had it made. He wrote about the good and the bad like pitchers hitting him and fans screaming at him. But good things like support from Pee Wee Reese, Branch Rickey and his family. Jackie changed the game of baseball by opening it up to blacks. Dr. King and Jackie
Jackie making his last public apperence. Jackie also was a Civil Rights leader. He spoke for blacks problems and even worked with Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King fought for Civil Rights, too. Jackie s last public appearance was in 1972 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. It was the 26 th Anniversary of his first season in the majors. On October 24, 1972 at age 53, Jackie Robinson died. Over 2,500 people attended his funeral and that showed the effect Jackie had put on people. Conclusion Over the course of this project I learned a lot about Jackie Robinson and Jesse Owens, but what I was amazed at was how much they went through. I thought why would they put up with that? Why didn t they just quit? I figured out it was because when you really have a dream you fight for it. For an example, when someone cursed at Jackie Robinson, he could have knocked that man s block off, but he didn t. You know why? Because he wanted his dream to stay alive. Before this project, I didn t know they went through all of that, and that is why Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson are American Heroes. They really did overcome many challenges mentally and physically.
Works Cited Price Sean, Jackie Robinson Breaking the Color Barrier. Chicago, Illinois :Rain Tree, 2009 Sabin, Francene. Jesse Owens Olympic Hero. USA,Troll Ass., 1986 O Connor, Jim. Jackie Robinson and the story of all black baseball. New York : Random House, 1989 Rennert, Rick. Jesse Owens Champion Athlete. USA : Chelsea Juniors, 1992 Denenberg, Barry. Stealing Home the story of Jackie Robinson. New York: Scholastic inc., 1990 Raatma, Lucie. Jesse Owens Track and Field Olympian. USA: The Child`s World, 2004 De Marco, Tony. Jackie Robinson. USA : The Child`s World, 2009 Robinson, Sharon. Promises to Keep. New York: Scholastic Press, 2004 Picture Work Cited www.picserch.com http://www.milb.com/images/2006/12/19/drpoptut.jpg http://xtimeline.s3.amazonaws.com/upload/use200806051803100894216/elt200 808281811144277358.jpg http://www.kawvalley.k12.ks.us/schools/rjh/marneyg/04_holocaust- Projects/04_johnston_owens.jpg http://www.austincc.edu/caddis/owens-luzlong.jpg http://www.planetgiant.com/digital_prints_frame_detail/dp-robinson-jackie- Basketball.jpg