After Jackie Robinson broke the “color line” to become the first African American to play in the major leagues he experienced hate letters, death threats against his family what forms of discrimination do these examples represent?
According to Merton’s typology of prejudice and discrimination, these acts against Jackie Robinson and his family represent a variety of types of discrimination. While I will not interact with Merton’s theories directly or in quotable form, his typology underlies my analysis of the Robinson documentary. In the first place, these discrimination acts do represent racial discrimination. They are based on or motivated by the color of Robinson. As the first black American to play in the major leagues, Robinson was deemed as an outlier and not worthy of such participation by many white people.

But the discrimination does not stop at only racial types. It also reflects discrimination by association. Jackie Robinson’s family was targeted just as much as Robinson himself was. But these people did not play baseball and did not commit the actions that Robinson committed, that supposedly earned him discriminatory attention. Hence, these acts against his family include discrimination by association. The family members were associated with Robinson and thus received the attacks of others. This was motivated by the fact that the family members were simply associated with Robinson, by blood and social ties. In other words, this is not individual but more institutional discrimination.

I think also, third and finally, that these acts of discrimination include forms of jealousy. Part of the issue is not related to the race of Robinson or to the association of his family. Much of the hate mail and death threats, according to the PBS documentary, may have arisen due to the simply human drive towards jealousy. People do not like a successful person if they want that success for themselves. It seems that part of the anger of people stemmed from a jealousy for Robinson’s success. This jealousy, however, is not separable from Robinson’s color. Both of these drivers inform one another.

How do the key terms of prejudice, racism, and different forms of discrimination (individual and institutional) apply to Jackie Robinson’s life as a major league baseball player and as an individual African American man?

Prejudice arises because of a preconceived opinion about a man like Robinson. In a way, he could do nothing to prevent the response of his time. He was a black man in a white world. He had already received a notion of identity and ability before he stepped onto the baseball field. Much of prejudice theory shows us that racism and hatred towards certain individuals or institutions arises not from the actions of people but out of a predetermined set of beliefs about certain types of people and places. For Jackie, this was an attitude already apart of the societal make up. Critical race theory also shows us that racism stems from a variety of factors, similarly assumed like prejudice, but also that these are illogically founded. Jackie was a black man but not anymore African than many other people with different shades of skin. In other words, he was just as American, by birth at least, as the white players, even more American than some of them.

What are some examples of how Robinson influenced and was involved in the Civil Rights Movement?

Robinson’s legacy does begin with baseball but it extends into his post-baseball career. He became, according to the documentary, a widely read newspaper columnist and a political activist. In these ways, he reached the nation, especially during the time of the Civil Rights Movement. He advocated and also regulated some of the activities among blacks in America but then sadly became ill and lost his voice to the nation. This shows his involvement as a model, in baseball, and as a voice, in the media.