Essential American History: Jackie Robinson

JACKIE ROBINSON

Airs April 11-12, 9 pm and 11 pm ET on PBS

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.” After baseball, he was a widely-read newspaper columnist, divisive political activist and tireless advocate for civil rights, who later struggled to remain relevant as diabetes crippled his body and a new generation of leaders set a more militant course for the civil rights movement.

JACKIE ROBINSON, a two-part, four-hour film directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon tells the story of an American icon whose life-long battle for first class citizenship for all African Americans transcends even his remarkable athletic achievements. “Jackie Robinson,” Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.”

Film Resources:

•  The Film's Website

Text and photo from PBS's and Film's Websites


Don Shaw, Jr.
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Essential American History: "Having Our Say" and "Having Their Say"

OLIVIA COLE, left, plays Sadie Delany and Brenda Pressley is Bessie Delany in “Having Our Say.” ( T. Charles Erickson )

I have my tickets for "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years" now performing at Hartford Stage, March 31- April 24.  Do you have yours? If not, better reserve them quick. 

Hartford Stage's website describes the play's essence: "103-year-old Sadie Delany and 101-year-old Bessie Delany were the daughters of a former slave, grew up in the Jim Crow South, lived in Harlem during its renaissance, and had professional careers as a teacher and a dentist, respectively. While they make dinner to remember their father’s birthday, the two sisters tell us the story of the last century, as they lived it. History at its most immediate, and poignant."

In his Hartford Courant review, Christopher Arnott writes "Having Our Say is a special sort of show. Part storytelling revue, part civil rights drama, part housekeeping ritual. The stories Sadie and Bessie tell largely concern the racism and chauvinism they experienced as African-American women during the 20th century, tempered with tales of personal triumph, social progress and supportive friends and family members."

And don't miss Witnessing History: The Life and Times of the Delany Family featured in Hartford Stage's Stagenotes. The timeline of history paralleling the Delany sisters' lives is impressive.

Finally, kudos to Hartford Stage and "Connecticut Humanities, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, and the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, as recommended by the Jackson-Batchelder Family Fund," for sponsoring Having Their Say: Generations in Conversation. Don't miss these stories. They are powerful and emotional.

Developed as an online companion piece to the Delany sisters' story, Having Their Say is an oral history project in which Hartford Stage "invited a group of local African-American female students to partner with 10 African-American women over the age of 70 to share stories specific to our Hartford community. Through a series of intergenerational dialogues, the participants exchanged their personal journeys, reflecting on the influences that have shaped their lives here in our city."


Don Shaw, Jr.
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"...a small act by a single student...is having a great impact..."

“We're sorry about everything that went down at the game last week,” said Farmington High School  senior Danny Ha to students from Capital Prep whom he coincidently met at Hartford Stage's production of Romeo and Juliet.

Apology Accepted, Hartford Courant reporter Lori Riley's continuing coverage of the derisive "SAT chant" captures the story of a chance meeting between a Farmington High student who seized the opportunity to apologize on behalf of the high school for the hurtful chant directed at Capital Prep's girls basketball team last week.

Of the apology, Lisa Loomis, head of Capital Prep's English department, said, "It was a small act by a single student, but it is having a great impact on our school."

It's a positive step. A step in the right direction. More steps need to be taken. The apology opens a path.

Read Lori Riley's article Apology Accepted to get the full story.

For further background read Turning a Hurt into a Positive, Riley's first article on the "SAT chant." 

Don Shaw, Jr.
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RedTruckStonecatcher.com

"...they had to figure out how to tear us down..."

DESIREE ELMORE of the Capital Prep basketball team talks to fellow students Tuesday about an incident at the game with Farmington Friday night. Visit courant.com/capitalprep for more photos. ( Cloe Poisson | cpoisson@courant.com)

Stones. The words hit like stones. They hurt. They leave scars.

At the end of the Capital Prep win, some Farmington fans chanted "SAT scores, SAT scores, SAT scores.” "I was hurt because I feel that just because we were able to beat Farmington, they had to figure out how to tear us down in some type of way," Desiree Elmore recounted. 

The words "SAT scores" were thrown mockingly at Capital Prep's girls basketball team by "some Farmington [High School] fans in the student section" during a game last Friday. Turning a Hurt into a Positive, the Hartford Courant article by Lori Riley, tells the story.

Capital Prep history teacher Lauren Davern "urged students to sign up for A Call to Action, and said they would discuss ideas on how to tackle this problem." Farmington High students would be smart to follow Capital Prep's lead.

Watch the Courant's video about the Capital Prep student assembly on the "SAT scores" chant.

Don Shaw, Jr.
Write and Editor
RedTruckStonecatcher.com