Jackie Robinson PBS Documentary: #Jackie#42

#JackieRobinsonPBS Part I. Jack Roosevelt Robinson rose from humble origins to cross baseball’s color line and become one of the most beloved men in America. A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his immense fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for “turning the other cheek.”

TIME magazine

Barack Obama appears in the opening moments of the film, you later hear from the likes of Michelle Obama, Harry Belafonte and Tom Brokaw, and Jamie Foxx does the voice-overs for Robinson’s letters and writings.

The documentary tells the tale that is hardly ever touched and it was that Jackie Robinson was attacked by both whites and African-Americans at different times in his life. Politically Robinson categorized himself as an independent: ”I guess you’d call me an independent, since I’ve never identified myself with one party or another in politics…I always decide my vote by taking as careful a look as I can at the actual candidates and issues themselves, no matter what the party label.” Proof of this statement is that Robinson opposed Barry Goldwater and later in his life supported Democratic candidates.

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