“Jackie Robinson’s Experience in Florida”
Summary
It has been almost sixty years since Jackie Robinson defied the norms of post-World War II American life by
becoming the first African-American to play major league baseball in the 20th century. In becoming a trailblazer
for civil rights and equality for all minorities, Jackie Robinson received assorted accolades and the respect of
many peers, both white and black. However, the accomplishments of Jackie Robinson, both on and off the field,
almost never happened because of the months he spent in Florida playing minor league baseball for the Montreal
Royals, a developmental team in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ farm system.
Objectives
Students will:
1) read to understand the forces in Jackie’s upbringing that made him the perfect choice for
Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey’s “noble experiment;”
2) relive the pressures faced by Jackie Robinson in becoming the first African-American to play
major-league baseball;
3) compare the racial climate of Daytona Beach to other Florida cities such as Pensacola, Sanford,
DeLand, and Jacksonville;
4) discuss how things may have worked differently if Jackie Robinson had succumbed to the
pressures of the threats and name-calling he was subjected to in his first months in Florida.
U.S. History Event
Postwar America and the beginnings of the Civil Rights Movement
Grade Level
Middle school or high school
Materials
Copies of Student Handout #1 and Student Handout #2 for each student (or each pair), transparency of
Picture F-4-1 and F-4-2, and an overhead projector
Lesson Time
This lesson can be completed in a forty-five minute class period.
Lesson
1. As students enter the room, have them answer the following Preview question written on the board in their
notebooks: “Think back to a time recently or when you were younger when someone would not allow
you to do something that you really wanted to do. What was the reason given for not being allowed to
do what you wanted? How did it make you feel?”
2. After allowing the students five or so minutes to answer the question, lead a brief discussion of their answers.
Maybe even keep a list on the front board of what some of your students wanted to do, who told them that
they couldn’t, and for what reasons.
3. After 5-7 minutes of discussion and sharing, show Picture F-4-1 to the class using a transparency. Have
them then respond to the following questions: “What do you see in this picture? Do you think that this
man minds drinking out of a water fountain labeled ‘colored’? What about this picture is similar to
your own ordeals? What is different? Is it fair for this man to have to drink out of a separate water
fountain or use a different bathroom than others based on his race?””
Picture F-4-1: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, July 1939: "Colored"
water fountains were fixtures throughout the South during the Jim
Crow era. Photo by Russell Lee.
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/gallery.cgi?collection
=segregation
4. Lead students in a discussion of this picture. After seeing the man drinking from the water cooler, students
should notice right away that there are different accommodations for African-Americans then for whites. They
then should be able to “put themselves” in the picture by imagining how they would feel if placed in a similar
predicament.
5. Explain to students that Picture F-4-1 represents American life and culture in the days prior to the Civil Rights
Movement. African-Americans were kept separated from whites in almost all aspects of society, especially in
the former slave-holding states of the South. Many white people believed that blacks were racially inferior
and kept them apart from white society through “Jim Crow” laws. Historians have used the term in reference
to the process of segregation or setting the races apart--sometimes meaning customary or informal
segregation and sometimes meaning legal or codified segregation. African-Americans were also not allowed
to participate in integrated athletic events in many parts of the country, especially the South.
6. Divide your class into heterogenous pairs and pass out Student Handout #1: “Jackie Robinson.” Instruct
your students to read the passage together and answer the discussion questions.
7. Option: Upon your students completing the reading passage and the discussion questions, have each
member of each pair pick the role of Branch Rickey or Jackie Robinson. Have all “Jackies” stand up and say
in a firm voice, “Mr. Rickey, do you want a ballplayer who’s afraid to fight back?” Then have all “Rickeys”
stand and answer, “I want a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back. You symbolize a crucial cause.
One incident, just one incident, can set it back 20 years.” Then have both actors stand up and, with
“Rickey’s” fist to “Jackie”’s face, have all “Rickeys” say, “What do you do?” Have all “Jackies” respond, “Mr.
Rickey, I’ve got two cheeks. If you want to take this gamble, I’ll promise you there will be no incidents.”
(Option #2: instead of having the entire class take part in this exercise, choose one “Jackie” and one “Rickey”
and have them stand up in front of a transparency of Picture F-4-2 and perform a mini-drama with the same
lines)
8. Pass out Student Handout #2: Spring Training in Florida” to each pair. Instruct the pairs to read and
complete the discussion questions.
9. After all pairs have completed the reading assignment, ask each pair to join another pair and come up with an
answer for the following question: “Imagine that things became so tough for Jackie and Rachel
Robinson during that first spring training in 1946 that Jackie finally decided to give up the ‘noble
experiment.’ What would have been the short-term effects, and what would have been some longterm effects?”
10. Allow students several minutes to share their responses.
Activities
Reading Passage #1: Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. His father, Jerry Robinson, was a
sharecropper who abandoned his family when Jack was a baby. His mother, Mallie Robinson, moved her five
children to southern California in 1920.
When Mallie Robinson bought a house in an all-white neighborhood on Pepper Street in Pasadena, the family
was exposed to immediate prejudice and protest. Mallie Robinson refused to be intimidated, though, and she
taught the Robinson children to be careful of their surroundings without losing their personal sense of dignity.
During his childhood, young Jackie followed the example of his sports-minded siblings. His brother Mack won
a silver medal behind Jesse Owens in the 200 meters at the 1936 Olympic Games. His other brothers Edgar and
Frank were also accomplished athletes, and his sister Willa Mae ran sprints in addition to playing basketball,
track, and soccer.
Although he grew up without a father, two men played major roles in young Jackie’s life. Carl Anderson, an
auto mechanic near Pepper Street, warned that life in a gang could hurt Jackie and reflect poorly on his mother.
As the youngest child, Jackie was especially close to his mother, so he took Carl’s advice to heart. Anderson also
told him it didn’t take any guts to be part of a group, but that it did take courage and intelligence to be willing to be
different. Another role model for young Jackie was the Reverend Karl Downs, a young minister at Jackie’s church
in Pasadena. Downs encouraged Jackie to become more active in the church instead of merely attending at his
mother’s insistence. So, an inspired Jackie volunteered to be a Sunday School teacher.
Robinson became a star athlete at John Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College, where he broke his
brother Mack’s school record in the broad jump. Then Robinson made the decision to attend the University of
California-Los Angeles (UCLA), which was a member of the racially-integrated Pacific Coast Conference. During
his collegiate career at UCLA, Robinson became the first four-sport letterman in UCLA history, excelling in
baseball, basketball, football, and track. Sports remained the center of Robinson’s life until his best friend, Ray
Bartlett, introduced Jackie to a freshman named Rachel Isum, an honor student majoring in nursing who would
become his wife. Rachel didn’t care about sports, but later took an interest because of Robinson.
Discussion Questions:
• Who were some of the figures that had an impact on Jackie’s young life? List at least three, and
describe the impact that they had.
• How was growing up and attending high school and college different for Jackie in California than
in the South?
After two years at UCLA, and feeling pressure to earn money for his family, Jackie quit school. At the time, he
reasoned that even a degree wouldn’t help him to succeed in a white man’s society. He quickly lined up a job
with the National Youth Administration as an assistant athletic director at the NYA’s youth camp in Atascadero,
California. The pay was meager, though, and Jackie returned to athletics.
In the fall of 1941, Robinson joined the Honolulu Bears, a minor-league professional football team in Hawaii.
To make extra money, he spent his weekdays working on construction projects near Pearl Harbor. On Sundays
he was a star player in the integrated football league. His season ended on December 5th; two days later, while
on a ship waiting for departure to the mainland United States, Japanese fighter planes attacked Pearl Harbor.
Robinson joined the United States Army a few months later in May 1942 while World War II was raging
overseas. Jackie quickly learned about the “Jim Crow Army,” in which white soldiers enjoyed more privileges
than blacks did. At Fort Riley, Kansas, Jackie was invited to play for the base’s football team. The first opponent,
the University of Missouri, flatly informed the team that under no circumstances would they play against a team
with a black player on it. This shocked Jackie, who had played with both whites and blacks in his college days.
Even more shocking was his team’s response: the Army gave Jackie a military leave to go home prior to the
game. Robinson vowed he would never play for a team if he would not be allowed to play in all of its games.
After later transferring to Fort Hood, Texas, Jackie became involved in another incident in which a bus driver
ordered Robinson to move to the back of a military bus. Jackie knew that this order violated an Army regulation
that barred racial discrimination on any vehicle operating on an Army post, so he refused to follow the order. He
was court-martialed for his failure to comply but quickly proven innocent. He eventually received an honorable
discharge from the Army.
Discussion Questions:
• Why did Jackie Robinson leave school before earning his degree?
• Explain how Jackie’s reactions to his experiences with the “Jim Crow Army” were different than
the reactions that may have been made by a black man who had grown up in the South.
While waiting for his discharge, Robinson met a fellow soldier who had been a member of the Kansas City
Monarchs, a baseball team in the all-black Negro League. The man advised Jackie that the Monarchs were
looking for players. Robinson wrote the club, received a tryout, and made the team, though baseball had never
been his strongest sport. Robinson was paid $400 a month, but he didn’t enjoy life in the Negro Leagues. The
bus rides seemed endless, the food was of poor quality and had to be eaten on the bus since restaurants would
not serve black customers, and finding a hotel which served blacks was a rarity. Robinson felt the overall
situation was bleak.
A day before the major league baseball season began in April 1945, Jackie and two other black players
received a tryout with the Boston Red Sox. Major league baseball was coming under increasing pressure from
many Americans to integrate, and in order to show that baseball was willing to accept black players, some teams
offered tryouts to black players. After the tryout, no contract was offered to the black players.
During the 1945 season, Brooklyn Dodger President Branch Rickey began to scout the world for black players
who had left the U.S. because of the lack of opportunity. Rickey was looking for the right player to break
baseball’s color barrier. Many years before, Rickey had been the baseball coach for Ohio Wesleyan University.
On an overnight stay in South Bend, Indiana, a hotel refused to allow one of Rickey’s players, a black student
named Charley Thomas, to stay in the hotel. Rickey reached a compromise with the hotel manager that allowed
Thomas to stay in Rickey’s room. He never forgot the sight of Thomas crying and rubbing his hands, saying “If
only they were white.” Rickey replied, “Charley, the day will come when they won’t have to be white.”
When Rickey heard that Jackie had actually impressed baseball scouts in his Red Sox tryout, he ordered an
exhaustive background check on the former UCLA star and military officer. Rickey was determined that the
Dodgers would be the first major league team to sign a black player, and when the background check came back
positive, Rickey was sure that he had found the perfect person to make history. He immediately set up a meeting
with Robinson.
Jackie’s meeting with Rickey began with a handshake and a surprising question from the Dodger president:
“You got a girl?” Jackie, not understanding why the question was asked, paused a moment before answering that
he was engaged to Rachel Isum. Rickey then asked when the wedding was, because Jackie was going to need a
good woman by his side in the coming months. Rickey then said the words that Jackie never thought that he
would hear: “I’ve sent for you because I’m interested in you as a candidate for the Brooklyn Dodgers National
League Club. I think you can play in the major leagues. How do you feel about it? You think you can play for
Montreal (Brooklyn’s top farm team)?”
Excited, Jackie said that he could play for the Dodger’s top minor league farm team in Montreal. Then Rickey
asked if Jackie “had the guts” to play in the majors. Jackie’s excitement turned to anger when Rickey challenged
his manhood. Rickey then revealed his careful background check of Jackie’s past, including charges of being a
“racial agitator” at UCLA. Rickey warned Jackie that the first black ballplayer in the 20th century would not be able
to fight everyone, from players to fans to umpires, and expect to succeed. Rickey warned that there would be
plenty of threats, beanballs, taunts, and spikes-first slides, but Jackie would not be able to respond. Growing
extremely distressed, Jackie asked, “Mr. Rickey, are you looking for a Negro who is afraid to fight back?” Rickey
responded, “Robinson, …I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back.”
Discussion Questions:
• What effect do you think that the Charley Thomas incident had on Branch Rickey while he was the
head baseball coach at Ohio Wesleyan University?
• What do you think Rickey meant when he replied to Jackie, “I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts
enough not to fight back.” How would you have responded to him?
During the next three hours, Rickey alternately convinced Jackie to play for the Montreal Royals while roleplaying with Jackie the kind of insults and scenarios that he could expect as the major leagues’ civil rights
trailblazer. In his autobiography, I Never Had It Made, Jackie remembered Rickey concluding the grueling
interview by saying, “We can’t fight our way through this, Robinson. We’ve got no army, there’s virtually no one
on our side. And I’m afraid that many fans will be hostile. We’ll be in a tough position. We can win only if I
convince the world that I’m doing this because you’re a great ballplayer and a fine gentleman. If you’re a good
enough man, we can make this a start in the right direction. But let me tell you, it’s going to take an awful lot of
courage.” He then offered Jackie an English translation of Giovanni Papini’s Life of Christ and pointed at a
passage quoting Jesus: “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do
not resist him who is evil, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also."
Rickey then demanded, “Now, can you do it? I know you are naturally combative. But for three years—three
years—you will have to do it the only way it can be done. Three years—can you do it?” Putting a fist in
Robinson’s face, Rickey shouted, “What do you do?”
Jackie Robinson answered softly, “Mr. Rickey, I’ve got two cheeks. If you take this gamble, I’ll promise you
there will be no incidents.”
Picture F-4-2
Jackie: “Mr. Rickey, do you want a ballplayer who’s afraid to fight back?”
Rickey: “I want a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back. You symbolize a
crucial cause. One incident, just one incident, can set it back 20 years.”
Rickey (with fist raised as if to strike Jackie): “What do you do?”
Jackie: “Mr. Rickey, I’ve got two cheeks. If you want to take this gamble, I’ll
promise you there will be no incidents.”
Reading Passage #2: Spring Training in Florida
Satisfied after his three-hour meeting with Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey offered him a contract. Jackie
signed the contract for a salary of $600 per month and a $3,500 signing bonus. Rickey’s desire to place Jackie
with the Dodgers’ top farm team in Montreal was in part due to his belief that Jackie and his new bride Rachel
would face less hostility in Canada than in the United States. Hector Racine, the president of the Montreal
Royals, welcomed Jackie and Rachel to the club, declaring that if “Negroes fought alongside whites and shared
the foxhole dangers, they should get a fair trial at baseball.”
Living in Montreal would later turn out to be a positive experience for the Robinson family. They rented an
apartment in the French-Canadian section of the cosmopolitan city and their neighbors were very friendly and
accepting. The newlyweds would soon find, however, that the same could not be said for most cities in the United
States.
On the late afternoon of February 28, 1946, Jackie and Rachel waited for the flight that would begin their
journey from Los Angeles to the Royals’ spring training base in Dayton Beach, Florida. Jackie wore a gray
business suit and Rachel looked sharp as well, wearing an ermine coat with a matching hat and an alligator
handbag. Jackie was to report to spring training by noon the next day, March 1st.
The overnight flight from California to Louisiana was uneventful. Rachel had never been exposed to racial
segregation growing up on the West Coast, so upon seeing her first “Jim Crow” signs at the New Orleans airport,
she very deliberately drank from a “white” water fountain and used the “white” ladies room. Rachel, though, was
about to experience real Southern prejudice for the first time.
Their plane had landed in New Orleans at 7:00AM. While waiting for their next flight to Pensacola, airline
employees informed them that hey had been “bumped” by military personnel and would have to wait for the noon
flight. When the Robinsons asked where they could eat, they were told that neither the airport restaurant nor the
coffee shop served blacks.
Finally, at 7:00PM, the Robinsons boarded the flight to Pensacola that would then continue on to Daytona.
However, when the plane landed to refuel in Pensacola Jackie and Rachel were “bumped” again with the excuse
that three passengers had to be taken off so the plane could carry extra fuel for an unexpected storm. Later,
Jackie saw two white passengers board the same plane. After calling Branch Rickey for advice, Jackie decided
to take the Greyhound bus from Pensacola to Daytona Beach, although it meant a 16-hour ride. Jackie and
Rachel bought their tickets and boarded the bus. They were immediately ordered to the rear of the bus by the
driver. Keeping his promise to Rickey, Jackie did not say a word. When the bus stopped in Jacksonville, Rachel
was too insulted to eat carry-out food, so they ate apples and candy bars. Finally, in the late afternoon of March
2nd, they arrived in Daytona Beach.
Discussion Questions:
• Why did Branch Rickey think that Jackie would be better off playing in Montreal than for one of the
Dodgers’ other farm teams in the U.S.?
• Why do you think Rachel made it a point to use the “whites-only” drinking fountain and ladies
room at the New Orleans airport? If you had been Jackie, how would you have reacted to her
actions?
Daytona Beach was uncommonly progressive for a Florida town before the Civil Rights era of the 1950’s and
‘60’s. This could have been due in part to Mary McLeod Bethune, who had founded a school for AfricanAmerican girls in 1904. Later, it grew into Bethune-Cookman College. Because of the influence of Bethune on
the community, many blacks in Daytona Beach were politically active and fought constantly for their rights. But
some vestiges of the old “Jim Crow” South still existed, too. For example, no blacks were allowed to enjoy any of
Daytona’s wide, sandy beaches; instead, they had to travel dozens of miles to visit Bethune Beach near Cape
Canaveral.
While Daytona Beach may have been responsive to Jackie’s presence, spring training in 1946 found many
other Florida communities totally unable to accept Robinson on the Montreal roster. Several road games were
cancelled. On March 5th, just before a game in Sanford, city officials informed the Royals that black and white
players would not be allowed on the same field together. On March 21st, a game between the Royals and the
Jersey City Giants in Jacksonville was cancelled as well. George G. Robinson, head of the Jacksonville
Recreation Department, informed the Royals that “it is part of the rules and regulations of the Recreational
Department that Negroes and whites cannot compete against each other on a city-owned playground.” Two more
games would be cancelled in Jacksonville in the coming weeks. On April 7th, in the third inning of a game against
the St. Paul Saints in Sanford, the chief of police arrived to tell Royals manager Clay Hopper that he would be
arrested if Jackie Robinson did not leave the field. Hopper pulled him from the game.
Authorities of teams in Savannah, Georgia, and Richmond, Virginia, also cancelled previously-scheduled
games with the Royals in protest of Branch Rickey’s “noble experiment.” Deeply disturbed by the situation and
feeling that maybe he just wasn’t strong enough to follow through with his promise, Jackie contemplated quitting.
Each time, though, Rachel and several of his teammates, including white Southerners, encouraged him to stay.
On April 10th, city officials in DeLand cancelled a day game with the Royals because the stadium lights were
supposedly not working. The game was moved back to Daytona, only twenty miles away. Dodgers management
rescheduled several other road games for Daytona Beach. True to their promise, city officials there never once
threatened to cancel any Royals games there or keep Jackie from playing. Daytona Beach would later be called
“an island of enlightenment in a sea of bigotry” because of its way of handling spring training in 1946.
Discussion Questions:
• If Daytona Beach still had “Jim Crow” laws and customs in 1946, why would some historians have
called it “an island of enlightenment…”?
Jackie Robinson became a member of the Montreal Royals after his 1946 spring training experience. He
played and excelled despite everything that Branch Rickey had warned him about happening. Pitchers threw at
him; players slid into second base with their cleats up in an effort to injure him; and opposing players, fans, and
even coaches loudly insulted him. During one game in Syracuse, New York, opposing players threw a live black
cat out of their dugout and yelled, “Hey, Jackie, there’s your cousin!” But Jackie took it all in stride, never
betraying his true feelings.
Because of Jackie’s ability and determination, he won over his teammates and even his manager Clay
Hopper, a Southerner from Mississippi who had earlier begged Rickey not to assign Robinson to Montreal
because he feared that his neighbors would force him to move. After the Royals had defeated the Louisville
Colonels, 4 games to 3, in “the Little World Series,” Hopper shook Jackie’s hand and told him, “You’re a great
ballplayer and a fine gentleman. It’s been wonderful having you on the team.” The city of Montreal had also
fallen in love with Jackie. After the Royals had finished off the Colonels, thousands of fans refused to leave the
clubhouse until Jackie came outside. He was hugged and kissed as he was carried around the stadium.
Sportswriter Sam Martin wrote, “It was probably the only day in history that a black man ran from a white mob with
love instead of lynching on its mind.”
After spring training the following year, Jackie Robinson was called up to the Brooklyn Dodgers. His
teammates responded in the same fashion that he had hoped, supporting him and even fighting back for him
when he couldn’t. That year, Brooklyn went to the World Series, only to be defeated by the New York Yankees in
seven games. But Branch Rickey’s “noble experiment” was a success. Every year after that, more black players
entered major league baseball. For the rest of Jackie’s career, Brooklyn would win six league pennants and even
a World Series championship. Unfortunately, all of the years of being hit by pitchers and cleats on his shins
caught up with him. Jackie retired after the 1956 season after only ten years in the major leagues.
But what a ten years they were! Jackie’s influence exceeded the baseball diamond, and all of his hard work
to promote equal rights for African-Americans had a lasting impact, especially in Florida. As a result of his spring
training experience in Daytona Beach, that city’s own “Jim Crow” laws crumbled. The city auditorium was
desegregated in 1948; Daytona Beach’s bus system was fully integrated in seating and hiring by 1955; and even
the city’s beautiful beaches were opened to all people in the same year. Soon after, Daytona’s restaurants, golf
courses, parks, hospitals, and even the ballpark where Jackie had played in his first spring training game were
fully desegregated. And in 1997, Sanford city officials issued an official apology for their predecessors who had
forced Jackie to leave town fifty-one years earlier.
Discussion Questions:
• What do you think Sam Martin meant when he made the observation that Jackie trying to escape
the fans in Montreal was “probably the only day in history that a black man ran from a white mob
with love instead of lynching on its mind?”
• Do you think that African-Americans and other people of color have made great strides in
American society since Jackie Robinson’s time? Is this applicable to Robinson’s and Richey’s
efforts, or was it bound to happen eventually, anyway?
Assessment
Listed below are several options for assessment questions about this lesson.
11. Though born in Georgia, Jackie and his family moved to _______________ when he was very young. Here
he was allowed to attend integrated schools and play integrated sports.
a. Florida
b. Texas
c. California
d. Hawaii
12. True or false. After graduating from college, Jackie Robinson was drafted by the Brooklyn Dodgers, who
had already signed several African-American baseball players.
13. Dodgers President Branch Rickey signed Jackie Robinson to a minor-league contract in Montreal. Rickey
placed Jackie in Montreal because:
a. he did not think that Jackie and new wife Rachel would have any problems finding housing there;
b. Canada had no income tax;
c. Canadians were much more accepting of people of different races and ethnicities than Americans;
d. the weather was better for baseball in Montreal.
14. Jackie Robinson’s baseball team held spring training in Daytona Beach. How did the townspeople treat
Jackie compared to other towns and cities in Florida?
a. about the same;
b. much better; other cities forced the cancellation of games because they would not allow whites to
compete with blacks;
c. much worse; Daytona Beach had some of the most cruel “Jim Crow” laws in existence in the 1940’s;
d. trick question! Jackie’s team never trained in Daytona Beach
15. Why do you thin that it was important to Branch Rickey that Jackie Robinson never fight back against abuse
and mistreatment for only three years? Do you think that you would “have the guts” to “turn the other
cheek” if faced with the same kind of treatment?
Resources
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/hs_lp_jackie_robinson.htm
http://www.dodgers2001.com/kids/classroom/jackie.htm
http://www.jackierobinson.org/aboutjackie/index03.htm
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/jrhtml/jrhome.html
http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/robinson01.html
http://www.archives.gov/digital_classroom/lessons/jackie_robinson/jackie_robinson.html
http://espn.go.com/sportscentury/features/00016431.html
http://www.afro.com/history/Robinson/intro.html
http://www.utexas.edu/students/jackie/robinson/images.html
McCarthy, Kevin M. Baseball in Florida. Pineapple Press, Inc. Sarasota, FL: 1996.