专八人文知识需知的美国名人--杰基.罗宾森

专八人文知识需知的美国名人--杰基.罗宾森

　　英语专八人文知识涵盖的知识面较广，考生们需要平时多积累小常识，这样在专八考试中才能游刃有余，新东方在线整理了专八人文知识需知的美国名人系列知识点供考生们参考。

　　Jackie Robinson 杰基•罗宾森

　　杰基•罗宾森(Jackie Robinson，1919年1月31日-1972年10月24日)是美国职棒大联盟史上第一位非裔美国人(美国黑人)球员，在1947年4月15日罗宾森穿着42号球衣以先发一垒手的身分代表布鲁克林道奇队上场比赛之前，黑人球员只被允许在黑人联盟打球。虽然美国种族隔离政策废除已久，但无所不在的种族偏见仍强烈左右著社会各个阶层，因此杰基罗宾森踏上大联盟舞台的这段时日，被公认为近代美国民权运动最重要的事件之一。

　　Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was the first African-American Major League Baseball (MLB) player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball colorline when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. As the first black man to openly play inthe major leagues since the 1880s, he was instrumental in bringing an end to racial segregation inprofessional baseball, which had relegated African-Americans to the Negro leagues for six decades.The example of his character and unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis ofsegregation, which then marked many other aspects of American life, and contributedsignificantly to the Civil Rights Movement.

　　Apart from his cultural impact, Robinson had an exceptional baseball career. Over ten seasons, heplayed in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Championship. He wasselected for six consecutive All-Star Games from 1949 to 1954, was the recipient of theinaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, and won the National League Most ValuablePlayer Award in 1949 – the first black player so honored. Robinson was inducted into the BaseballHall of Fame in 1962. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired his uniform number, 42, across allmajor league teams.

　　Robinson was also known for his pursuits outside the baseball diamond. He was the first African-American television analyst in Major League Baseball, and the first African-American vice-presidentof a major American corporation. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, anAfrican-American-owned/controlled financial institution based in Harlem, New York. In recognition ofhis achievements on and off the field, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medalof Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal.

　　Early life

　　Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, into a family of sharecroppers in Cairo, Georgia, during aSpanish flu and smallpox epidemic. He was the youngest of five children, after siblings Edgar, Frank,Matthew (nicknamed "Mack"), and Willa Mae. His middle name was in honor of former PresidentTheodore Roosevelt, who died twenty-five days before Robinson was born. After Robinson's fatherleft the family in 1920, they moved to Pasadena, California. The extended Robinson familyestablished itself on a residential plot containing two small houses at 121 Pepper Street in Pasadena.Robinson's mother worked various odd jobs to support the family. Growing up in relative povertyin an otherwise affluent community, Robinson and his minority friends were excluded from manyrecreational opportunities. As a result, Robinson joined a neighborhood gang, but his friend CarlAnderson persuaded him to abandon it.

　　Military career

　　In 1942, Robinson was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley,Kansas. Having the requisite qualifications, Robinson and several other black soldiers applied foradmission to an Officer Candidate School (OCS) then located at Fort Riley. Although Army policyhad allowed black applicants to enter OCS since July 1941, the applications of Robinson and hiscolleagues were inexplicably delayed for several months. After protests by heavyweight boxingchampion Joe Louis (then stationed at Fort Riley) and the help of Truman Gibson (then anassistant civilian aide to the Secretary of War), the men were accepted into OCS. This commonmilitary experience spawned a personal friendship between Robinson and Louis. Upon finishingOCS, Robinson was commissioned as a second lieutenant in January 1943. Shortly afterward,Robinson and Isum were formally engaged.

　　After receiving his commission, Robinson was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texas, where he joined the761st "Black Panthers" Tank Battalion. While at Fort Hood, Robinson often used his weekend leaveto visit the Rev. Karl Downs, President of Sam Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University) innearby Austin, Texas; Downs had been Robinson's pastor at Scott United Methodist Church whileRobinson attended PJC.

　　An event in July 1944 derailed Robinson's military career. While awaiting results of hospital tests onthe ankle he had injured in junior college, Robinson boarded an Army bus with a fellow officer'swife; although the Army had commissioned its own unsegregated bus line, the bus driver orderedRobinson to move to the back of the bus. Robinson refused. The driver backed down, but afterreaching the end of the line, summoned the military police, who took Robinson into custody.When Robinson later confronted the investigating duty officer about racist questioning by theofficer and his assistant, the officer recommended Robinson be court-martialed. After Robinson'scommander in the 761st, Paul L. Bates, refused to authorize the legal action, Robinson wassummarily transferred to the 758th Battalion – where the commander quickly consented to chargeRobinson with multiple offenses, including, among other charges, public drunkenness – eventhough Robinson did not drink.

　　By the time of the court-martial in August 1944, the charges against Robinson had been reducedto two counts of insubordination during questioning. Robinson was acquitted by an all-white panelof nine officers. Although his former unit, the 761st Tank Battalion, became the first black tank unitto see combat in World War II, Robinson's court-martial proceedings prohibited him from beingdeployed overseas, thus he never saw combat action. After his acquittal, he was transferred toCamp Breckinridge, Kentucky, where he served as a coach for army athletics until receiving anhonorable discharge in November 1944. While there, Robinson met an ex-player for the KansasCity Monarchs of the Negro American League, who encouraged Robinson to write the Monarchsand ask for a tryout. Robinson took the ex-player's advice and wrote Monarchs' co-owner ThomasBaird.

　　Post-military

　　After his discharge, Robinson briefly returned to his old football club, the Los Angeles Bulldogs.Robinson then accepted an offer from his old friend and pastor Rev. Karl Downs to be the athleticdirector at Sam Huston College in Austin, then of the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The jobincluded coaching the school's basketball team for the 1944–45 season. As a fledgling program,few students tried out for the basketball team, and Robinson even resorted to inserting himself intothe lineup for exhibition games. Although his teams were outmatched by opponents, Robinsonwas respected as a disciplinarian coach, and drew the admiration of, among others, LangstonUniversity basketball player Marques Haynes, a future member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

　　Major leagues

　　Breaking the color barrier (1947)

　　The following year, six days before the start of the 1947 season, the Dodgers called Robinson upto the major leagues. With Eddie Stanky entrenched at second base for the Dodgers, Robinsonplayed his initial major league season as a first baseman. On April 15, 1947, Robinson made hismajor league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than14,000 black patrons. Although he failed to get a base hit, the Dodgers won 5–3. Robinsonbecame the first player since the 1880s to openly break the major league baseball color line. Blackfans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning their Negro leagueteams.

　　Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspapers andwhite major league players. However, racial tension existed in the Dodger clubhouse. SomeDodger players insinuated they would sit out rather than play alongside Robinson. The brewingmutiny ended when Dodgers management took a stand for Robinson. Manager Leo Durocherinformed the team, "I do not care if the guy is yellow or black, or if he has stripes like a fuckin'zebra. I'm the manager of this team, and I say he plays. What's more, I say he can make us allrich. And if any of you cannot use the money, I will see that you are all traded."

　　Robinson was also derided by opposing teams. Some, notably the St. Louis Cardinals, threatenedto strike if Robinson played. After the threat, National League President Ford Frick and BaseballCommissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended.Robinson nonetheless became the target of rough physical play by opponents (particularly theCardinals). At one time, he received a seven-inch gash in his leg. On April 22, 1947, during a gamebetween the Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies players called Robinson a "nigger" fromtheir dugout and yelled that he should "go back to the cotton fields" Rickey later recalled thatPhillies manager Ben Chapman "did more than anybody to unite the Dodgers. When he pouredout that string of unconscionable abuse, he solidified and united thirty men."

　　Robinson received significant encouragement from several major league players. Dodgersteammate Pee Wee Reese once came to Robinson's defense with the famous line, "You can hate aman for many reasons. Color is not one of them." In 1948, Reese put his arm around Robinson inresponse to fans who shouted racial slurs at Robinson before a game in Cincinnati.A statue bysculptor William Behrends, unveiled at KeySpan Park on November 1, 2005, commemorates thisevent by representing Reese with his arm around Robinson. Jewish baseball star Hank Greenberg,who had to deal with racial epithets during his career, also encouraged Robinson. After collidingwith Robinson at first base on one occasion, Greenberg whispered a few words into Robinson's ear,which Robinson later characterized as "words of encouragement." Greenberg had advised him thatthe best way to combat the slurs from the opposing players was to beat them on the field.

　　Robinson finished the season with 12 home runs, a league-leading 29 steals, a .297 battingaverage, a .427 slugging percentage, and 125 runs scored. His cumulative performance earnedhim the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate National and AmericanLeague Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949).

　　World Championship and retirement (1954–1956)

　　In 1954, Robinson had 62 runs, a .311 batting average, and 7 steals. His best day at the plate wason June 17, when he hit two home runs and two doubles. The following autumn, Robinson wonhis only championship when the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series.Although the team enjoyed ultimate success, 1955 was the worst year of Robinson's individualcareer. He hit .256 and stole only 12 bases. The Dodgers tried Robinson in the outfield and as athird baseman, both because of his diminishing abilities and because Gilliam was established atsecond base. Robinson, then 37 years old, missed 49 games and did not play in Game 7 of theWorld Series. Robinson missed the game because manager Walter Alston decided to play Gilliam atsecond and Don Hoak at third base. That season, the Dodgers' Don Newcombe became the firstblack major league pitcher to win twenty games in a year.

　　In 1956, Robinson had 61 runs, a .275 batting average, and 12 steals. By then, he had begun toexhibit the effects of diabetes, and to lose interest in the prospect of playing or managingprofessional baseball. After the season, Robinson was traded by the Dodgers to the arch-rival NewYork Giants for Dick Littlefield and $35,000 cash. The trade, however, was never completed;unbeknownst to the Dodgers, Robinson had already agreed with the president of Chock full o'Nutsto quit baseball and become an executive with the company. Since Robinson had sold exclusiverights to any retirement story to Look magazine two years previously, his retirement decision wasrevealed through the magazine, instead of through the Dodgers organization.

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