Inside the new museum that honors Jackie Robinson, 75 years after he desegregated MLB

What’s on display at the new Jackie Robinson Museum

The main hall of the Jackie Robinson Museum has four pillars: entrepreneur, activist, soldier and family. Britton said she intentionally structured the museum this way to make a strong first impression when people walk in.

“We wanted that first impression to be, wow, he did all these things on all these different fronts,” Britton said. “He was doing activism ⁠— and it was really more simultaneous, it wasn’t sequential ⁠— at the same time he was in the army, he was doing activism because he was doing a petition to ensure there was equality in the military. . .. We wanted people to come in and say, entrepreneur, we didn’t know he was an entrepreneur: go to this column and read. »

Robinson was court-martialed while in the military after refusing to ride in the back of a military bus; he challenged it and won, knowing that military bus segregation was not allowed.

According to museum exhibits, Robinson also started a bank when he learned that established banks were refusing black mortgages. He started a housing development company and built 200 units in New York.

Of course, the museum also looks at his sporting career. He is the only four-sport varsity letterman at UCLA (baseball, basketball, track and field, and football). He met his wife in his senior year when she was a first-year nursing student.

In 1942, Robinson trained for the Chicago White Sox and manager Jimmy Dykes reportedly said, “Damn, if that kid was white, I’d sign him right away.” But it wasn’t until five years later that Robinson took a break from the Brooklyn Dodgers at the major league level.

The museum displays a game-worn home jersey (1947), Robinson’s military uniform (1942–44), his MVP and Rookie of the Year trophies, and his Presidential Medal of Freedom (1984). The collection includes 4,500 artifacts that will be browsed over time, 40,000 historical images and over 450 hours of archival video.

“What do we want people to remember: we want them to learn about him and his life, because there are a lot of people who don’t know. But we also want them to be inspired, to continue the work, to move forward and start getting involved and getting involved civically. »

There’s a “speak up, stand up” wall at the museum to encourage people to get involved in a social justice initiative they care about and hold them accountable for following through, Britton said.

“It’s up to the groups to step in and tackle an issue, whether it’s LGBTQ, whether it’s global warming and then – it’s actually also kind of a museum strategy to get people to stay. involved, which is having a contest,” Britton said of the new program.

“We’re trying to figure out if it’s at the end of the semester or the end of the year, and we’re like, ‘OK, what was the project you took on? Did you accomplish it? Metrics, how did it go? ‘ And then have an awards show to say, this group said they’re going to clean up their neighborhood or they’re going to put a basketball court or a gymnasium in your school or something. And that’s how we want people to engage, to be proactive, again, like Jackie. »

“After Jacky”

The inauguration was followed by a reception in front of the museum. The reception included a screening of the documentary “After Jackie,” a detailed account of black baseball players Curt Flood, Bill White and Bob Gibson, who entered the league after Robinson. They say in the film that Robinson, who died in 1972, was just a first step and that they still had a lot of discrimination to overcome, like not being able to stay in the same hotel as their white teammates, not having access to play certain positions or indulge in luxuries available to other players, being deliberately hit with balls on the pitch and a host of death threats.

Sabathia, the former pitcher, was recently named Special Assistant to the Commissioner of MLB to help develop and promote fair play. nonprofit that tackles barriers to fairness and inclusion in baseball.

Sabathia said black players face challenges to this day.

“If you look around the league, there are no black utility players,” he said. “There’s never, like, a 25th, 26th man on the roster, so you always have to be the best player if you want to play in the league. »

Jamal Henderson, chief content creator at Uninterrupted’s parent company, SpringHill Company, agreed with Sabathia that it’s hard on black gamers: “What I always take away from the Jackie Robinson story is that, yes, he was the first, but he also did so much for the game. And he did so much for the brothers who came after him. And that’s really what the movie was about: it was hard for him, it was always hard for the next generation. And it’s still hard for the brothers playing today.

Sabathia said her goal in working with MLB was “to give guys more opportunities to play and more opportunities to play in more positions.”

“For me, I would like to see the game as it was when I was growing up in the late 80s, early 90s, when we were a big part of the league’s representation, and that was super diverse. »

The Jackie Robinson Museum will be open to the public Thursday through Sunday, beginning the week of September 5. Admission will be €18 for adults and €15 for seniors, students and children aged 5-17.