Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

This theme begins with Mallie. Unlike her husband, she didn’t run from the racist sharecropping system. She stuck by her family and moved them to the West Coast, and this move reinforced her belief in accountability and responsibility. She didn’t rely on others to improve her environment; she did it herself. Her behavior in California advanced her resolve as she became her family’s breadwinner and teacher, earning money as a domestic worker and instilling principles in her children to help them face the US’s racist norms. If Mallie hadn’t pushed against racism, her children might have had different values, and MLB wouldn’t have had a Jackie Robinson.

Mallie’s beliefs shaped Jackie, turning him into Rickey’s ideal athlete. Sharon explains, “[Rickey] learned that Dad had been raised in a religious home by a mother whose values matched Rickey’s own” (28). Jackie applied the “values” to the racism he experienced while playing for the Dodgers. By not replying to virulent bigotry, Jackie set a composed, dignified example, proving that Black people belonged in MLB and that racism couldn’t knock them out of the league. Jackie’s devotion to integrating baseball helped get more Black players into the league, like his future teammate Roy Campanella. In addition, his dedication expanded his platform, supplying him with the clout to create change in areas beyond baseball. While the subtitle (“How Jackie Robinson Changed America”) is hyperbolic, Jackie’s tenacity and self-control helped change baseball and the society that it mirrors. Jackie’s story showed that white players and Black players could share the same field and that Black and white people could share other spaces too.

Sharon’s comments on the history of the US and racism underscore the theme. She shows how positive change and negative reactions coincide. The Civil War ended slavery and led to new freedoms, but Jim Crow laws maintained the toxic inequality. Sharon highlights several individuals, who (like Jackie and Mallie) didn’t resign themselves to resurgent racist norms. She notes how Ida B. Wells used journalism to confront lynching and how Langston Hughes and other members of the Harlem Renaissance spotlighted the vibrancy of Black culture through literature. Wells, Hughes, and others maintained their belief in equality, and their commitment to expressing the Black condition contributed to changes in how American society viewed Black people.