42 today : Jackie Robinson and his legacy /
Forty-two today
foreword by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon ; edited by Michael G. Long ; afterword by Kevin Merida.
- xiv, 239 pages : illustrations (black and white) ; 21 cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Foreword : taking Jackie Robinson seriously / Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon -- Introduction : that day / Michael G. Long -- The owner / Howard Bryant -- A Methodist life / Randal Jelks -- Jackie Robinson ball / George Vecsey -- Telling it the right way / Jonathan Eig -- A champion of nonviolence? / Mark Kurlansky -- The white media missed it / Chris Lamb -- On retiring 42 / David Naze -- Before the world failed him / Sridhar Pappu -- The dilemma of the Black Republican / Gerald Early -- "I've got to be me" : Robinson and the long Black freedom struggle / Yohuru Williams -- The first famous jock for justice / Peter Dreier -- Supporting Black women athletes / Amira Rose Davis -- The challenges of a gay Jackie Robinson / Adam Amal Rogers -- Afterword : the legacy of perfection / Kevin Merida.
Before the United States Supreme Court ruled against segregation in public schools, and before Rosa Parks refused to surrender her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama, Jackie Robinson walked onto the diamond on April 15, 1947, as first baseman for the Brooklyn Dodgers, making history as the first African American to integrate Major League Baseball in the twentieth century. Today a national icon, Robinson was a complicated man who navigated an even more complicated world that both celebrated and despised him.
Many are familiar with Robinson as a baseball hero. Few, however, know of the inner turmoil that came with his historic status. Featuring piercing essays from a range of distinguished sportswriters, cultural critics, and scholars, this book explores Robinson’s perspectives and legacies on civil rights, sports, faith, youth, and nonviolence, while providing rare glimpses into the struggles and strength of one of the nation’s most athletically gifted and politically significant citizens. Featuring a foreword by celebrated directors and producers Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, and David McMahon, this volume recasts Jackie Robinson’s legacy and establishes how he set a precedent for future civil rights activism, from Black Lives Matter to Colin Kaepernick.