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Monday, April 14, 2014

Play Ball!

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball by playing first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 




While this took place after World War II, it can be seen as a part of the Double V campaign. This was an African American response to wartime discrimination. "...let we colored Americans adopt the double V V for a double victory. The first V for victory over our enemies from without, the second V for victory over our enemies from within." On Feburary 7, 1942, the Pittsburg Courier printed this quote, which came from James G. Thomason's letter to the paper.




The Double V campaign was a way to encourage black men to enlist, despite the fact that the military was segregated. The men needed to be proud to fight Fascism for Democracy. The home front movement was to support the men who risked everything. This was the early part of what has become known as the Civil Rights Movement, but it has its origins in the nonviolent sit-ins of the 1940s and 1950s. 




In the film 42, Harrison Ford plays Branch Rickey, the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers who decided to integrate baseball. In one scene, he makes a reference to the Double V campaign when he is helping Jackie Robinson deal with the overt racism he was experiencing. (See link for video.)




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgpD2EGomr8

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