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Example research essay topic: Major League Baseball First African American - 1,716 words

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African Americans have had a rough time trying to participate in major athletics in the past. Some sports, such as baseball took large aspirations for the athletic community to integrate black athletes into their major league sports. African Americans have made great strides in the world of sports in the United States. Sports in America show extremes in culture and its the passion to succeed that unites most of America. African American athletes have been able to participate in Americas several professional sports leagues since the inception of sports in America.

But due to their race they have not always been given the chance. As sports grew into an American pastime they also grew on separate fields with race as a dividing line. Up until the 1940 's most sports events were separated because of race. Only a few African Americans dared to follow their dreams and cross over the racial line in these times. For those few African Americas they became the prime symbol of their race. They had their whole race riding on their shoulders.

If this wasnt a large enough burden to start with, they also had to endure teasing, harassment, and belittlement just to play the sport they loved. Moses Fleetwood, Paul Robeson, Chuck Cooper, lastly William Tecumseh Sherman Jackson paved the way for future black athletes in their respective sports. All of these men were the first to break the white and black barrier. Moses Fleetwood for baseball, Paul Robeson for football, Chuck Chopper for basketball, and William Tecumseh Sherman Jackson for track and field. What these great athletes coped with is unimaginable but their achievements wont be forgotten.

Baseball is truly Americas pastime. The sport was played all the way back in colonial America, in the 1700 's. As America was the melting pot of cultures, several cultures contributed to this game we call baseball. Baseball became such a popular sport that in 1869 the first Plourd 2 professional baseball team was organized. By 1876 eight-professional teams were made up and they formed the first baseball league. The two earliest African American baseball players to join all white teams were Bud Fowler and Moses Fleetwood's Walker.

Bud Fowler played for the Keokuk in New Castle, Pennsylvania. He was the only African American player on the team. Fowler never gave up on his goal to play in the major leagues and played for fourteen different teams for a career spanning twenty-five years but his dream was never met. He was never was able to cross over into the National League due to his race. On the other hand Moses Fleetwood Walker started his baseball career in college.

He attended Oberlin College which was one of the earliest American universities to allow both black and white into its school. Fleet Walker helped start a varsity baseball team for his College. He played for a couple of years until he was offered a chance to play baseball for the Toledo Blue Stockings. The Blue Stockings were in a minor Northwestern League, Fleetwood Walker played catcher for them. When the Blue Stockings were admitted into major league baseball, Moses Fleetwood Walker became the first African American to join a professional baseball team! Unfortunately, he was only able to play forty-two games with Toledo and was then asked to leave the team.

Toledo released Fleetwood Walker because in order for Toledo to play in other areas of the country, they were required to have no African American players on their rosters. In the summer of 1885 an African American man named Frank Thompson was furious about the rules to neglect African Americans from professional baseball. He then decided to formulate a baseball league purely for African Americans. Thompson called it the League of Colored Baseball Clubs.

This league became so popular among the African American community that black colleges and universities were all beginning to adopt baseball teams. The League of Colored Baseball Clubs wasnt as popular as professional baseball in America. In 1903 the very first World Series was played between the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates. With thousands attending each game.

But it wasnt until they 1940 's, with the invention of the television its interest nationwide exploded and baseball became Americans national pastime. But where did this leave African Americans? Everything was going great for the League of Colored Baseball Clubs. They even had enough players to split into two different leagues, the Negro National League and the Negro American League. Just when the League of Colored Baseball Clubs was at its peak the Great Depression stuck America. It left over 14 million people out of work.

This catastrophe nearly wiped out not only the Negro League but professional baseball as well. Two years after president Roosevelt passed the New Deal, the National League of Colored Baseball Clubs could no longer make it stopping in 1948. The only remaining Negro League lasted until the early 60 's. The league was ended because the professional baseball league agreed to let the players from the Negro League into its league. The Negro League was going to be turned into a developmental league for black players while it was a part of the professional baseball league. At first, very little African Americans signed with Major League teams.

Then a couple years later almost the rest of the Negro league came to the Major Leagues. All of the players were signed to a minor league deal, despite their ability to play the game. Most of the player never saw the field in the majors, but went from minor league to minor league team due to their race. Even though African Americans were allowed into Major League Baseball teams most teams were afraid to take the risks on these players. This all changed when Branch Rickey the owner of the Brooklyn Dodger decided to call up the first African American to professional baseball since Moses Fleetwood Walker in 1884. Jackie Robinson was promoted from Brooklyn's minor league team.

In his first major league season he won the National rookie of the year. Robinson had the most stolen bases in all of the majors in his very first season. Robinsons first season wasnt all fun and games however. Every time he would play in a southern city he would be harassed because of his race. Robinson was the perfect gentlemen and never spoke a word he just played the game he loved.

When Robinson first was placed on the Dodgers he was an outcast. He was the only African American in all of America playing in the major leagues. Once his teammates witnessed what kind of baseball player Robinson really was they found a new respect for him. His teammates started to back him up whenever the team traveled passed the southern line. This team chemistry brought the Dodgers all the way to the World Series. All though they lost four games to three, it opened the eyes of America to show them that integration between races isnt that bad.

Robinson lasted ten years in the majors and became the role model for all young African Americas in America. He was the National Leagues Most Valuable Player in 1949 with the Dodgers. He would speak out about his race and being an American. He once spoke in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee in Washington, D.

C. Robinson was always under the microscope by the media and he still had to withstand racial prejudice and bigoted remarks as he did his job playing baseball. Robinson retired in January 5, 1957. He was placed into the Baseball Hall of Fame on January 23, 1962.

Also, his number 42 was retired by every major league team, becoming the only player to have his number retired by every team in the majors. Quite possibly becoming the only person to do so. Without Robinson, players such as Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds wouldnt have had the opportunity to play baseball on a national level. A sport that is continuously gaining popularity in American is football. African Americans had a tough time making it into Americas professional football league. The first time football was recorded being played was in 1862, by the Oneida Football Cub.

The first game was played at Rutgers University in New Jersey, where Rutgers played Harvard University. Yale University was the first to take football seriously. Yale formulated firm rules for the game and constructed practices for their first football team. Yale also wanted to reform football into an American game by forming the All-American Team for college. The team was made to acknowledge all of the top football players in America.

There werent many African Americans in the colleges that offered football. But it didnt stop them from receiving high awards. William Henry Lewis was the first African American All-American. Similar to baseball there wasnt a problem in playing in lower leagues for African Americans but the professional league had a different time in having multi-races. Like the Negro Leagues for baseball, in football they had a league called the American Football League.

The only difference was that this league not only had African American League but whites played as well. The NFL did sign black players, but they received poor treatment by the fans and their fellow players. Black players received significantly lower contracts than whites in the NFL. In the American Football League however there was no such distinction based on race.

Which is why most African Americans joined. The American Football League had 13 African American signed by contract from 1920 to 1933. There was a total of only three in the National Football League during this same period. The first African American to play on a NFL team was Fritz Pollard.

Fritz Pollard was the Jackie Robinson of football. The reason why Pollard didnt have the impact that Robinson did was due to the lack of popularity that football had. At that time baseball the sport that America was focused on. Pollard wasnt just the first African American to play in the National Football League but he was also the first African American to coach in it as well. Pollard stop coaching Plourd 6 after the merger between the AFL and the NFL.

The American Football League lasted from 1960 to...


Free research essays on topics related to: major league baseball, negro league, african americans, first african american, national football league

Research essay sample on Major League Baseball First African American

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