Tuesday, October 13, 2009

NFL and Jackie Robinson

In a recent piece on ESPN as well as an article in Sports Illustrated, Jackie Robinson was discussed. Almost everyone can name Jackie Robinson as the first black player in Major League Baseball. But how many of us can name the player who broke the National Football League's color barrier? The article shows how we somehow get focused in on one idea or concept and forget about the other history that has happened as well. It got me thinking again how African-Americans have become synonymous with "minority." How many of us know who the first Latino to play in MLB or the NFL? It was interesting to look at. And for the record the first African-American to play in the NFL was Kenny Washington in 1946. Ironically, he was Jackie Robinson's teammate at UCLA.
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4 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 13, 2009 at 8:30 AM

    That is very interesting topic to write about, and very thoughtful too, thanks for filling us in on that

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  2. TimOctober 13, 2009 at 8:18 PM

    I do what I can haha

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  3. Brian TOctober 14, 2009 at 8:27 PM

    You do bring up a good point about how only the MLB color barrier is discussed and Jackie Robinson that gets the praise. My only explanation is this, baseball is America's past time and as been around for considerably longer than any of the other team sports. I mean there were once even pro leagues called the "Negro Leagues" in which black player were only allowed to play in. I think that Jackie Robinson is so praised because he broke the barrier at the precise time in a precise sport.

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  4. DanCaswellOctober 16, 2009 at 5:59 PM

    I agree with Brian on this. We have been discussing the history of baseball in my Labor History class for the past week or so, and one of the things my teacher mentioned is that baseball gets some special privileges. He also mentioned how it unified the country, which is probably why it gets more notice. Also, it was more prominent at the time when the race barrier within it was broken, than for the NFL, which I don't think was even the NFL at the time.

    But nonetheless you do bring up a very good interesting point. I wonder what it was for the other sports and other races.

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