42 Today

November 9, 2020
Biographer Long (Jackie Robinson: A Spiritual Biography), along with 13 contributors, explore lesser-known aspects of the life of Jackie Robinson, who became the first Black American to play Major League Baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Robinson’s Methodist faith is explored in Randal Maurice Jelk’s “A Methodist Life,” which examines how Robinson’s wife Rachel’s connection with the AME Church—and its message of “self-determination, self-sufficiency, and black independence”—influenced Robinson. The “First Famous Jock for Justice” catalogs the athletes who followed Robinson’s efforts on behalf of racial equality with their own social justice activism. Other notable essays include “Before the World Failed Him,” which discusses Robinson in context with other civil rights leaders, and “On Retirement,” about his life after hanging up his glove. Even those who know nothing about Robinson will take something inpsiring away from this excellent anthology.

Starred review from December 15, 2020
A collection of essays on the baseball great's impact on American society. Editor Long and his contributors attempt to separate the man from the myth and show how his influence continues to extend. Who was Jackie Robinson (1919-1972)? He ended racial segregation in Major League Baseball when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. He succeeded in part because he refused to respond to taunts or even acknowledge hateful slurs, but he showed an aggression on the field that may have been fueled by anger. After his retirement, he became a civil rights spokesman, defender of the Vietnam War, and a man at odds with more militant figures such as Malcolm X and Muhammed Ali. All of these facts fail to capture the complexity of the man and the heroism of his achievement. These pieces embody all of what made Robinson special, assessing him through many different lenses: the Methodist faith that he shared with Branch Rickey, who signed him to the Dodgers and exploited him for financial gain while denying that he (and baseball) had felt any political pressure to integrate; the Black and communist press that pushed for integration while the mainstream press either ignored the issue or resisted integration (in their own ranks as well as in baseball); the strong female presence--mother, wife, daughter--that helped shape Robinson's values and influenced his support for Black female athletes; and the political climate of the era, which bears a resemblance to that of today. Robinson was a seminal warrior in a movement before there was a movement. As Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed, "He was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides." Contributors include Howard Bryant, Mark Kurlansky, Jonathan Eig, Sridhar Pappu, Amira Rose Davis, and Kevin Merida, who provides the afterword, noting how Robinson "would invariably be disappointed in how white the entire decision-making infrastructure of sports remains." A successful attempt to give a towering cultural figure his due beyond the baselines.

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