49 pages • 1 hour read
Jackie RobinsonI Never Had It Made
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1972A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Index of Terms
Black Power
The Black Power Movement socio-political movement in the United States in the 1960s and 70s focused on racial pride and economic empowerment for African Americans. Black separatists, who believed in a separate state for African Americans, existed within this movement, as did black nationalists, who were more concerned with matters of justice. Typically, these groups were in conflict with black civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., who stressed racial integration and nonviolence. Robinson had several high-profile squabbles with Malcolm X and other members of the Black Power Movement.
Civil Rights
The civil rights movement in the United States lasted from the mid-1950s until the 1970s, most notably under the guidance of Martin Luther King Jr., who stressed nonviolence and civil disobedience to bring about social and political change. The primary aims of the civil rights movement were putting an end to racial discrimination, segregation, and injustice. Robinson was very vocal in support of King and the civil rights movement.
Court-martial
In the United States, a court martial is a court or trial convened to try members of the United States military for violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Robinson faced a court martial stemming from a racist incident at Fort Hood, Texas, but was acquitted on all charges.
Farm Club
Some professional sports use a farm system in which players hone their skills playing for teams and in leagues lower than that of the major level. In baseball, the term is used interchangeably with minor league and the teams are affiliated with major league clubs. The players are paid and thus professional even if they have not advanced to the major league. In 1946, Robinson signed a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers of Major League Baseball, but his first season was spent playing for the Dodgers top farm team at the time, the Montreal Royals, of the International League.
Jim Crow
Jim Crow laws were regulations that enforced racial segregation in the American South in the 19th and 20th centuries. Later, Jim Crow came to be a more generalized catch-all term meaning the system of racial segregation. It is in this spirit that Robinson frequently uses the term in I Never Had It Made. For example, he refers to Major League Baseball prior to 1947 as the “Jim Crow Leagues.”
Negro Leagues
The Negro leagues were a number of different professional baseball leagues for black players who were kept out of Major League Baseball. Various leagues existed from the 1880s up until the 1950s, with the 1920s and early-30s widely considered to be black baseball’s heyday. Prior to his signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Robinson played one season, 1945, for the most well-known franchise, the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League.
Pennant
In Major League Baseball, the pennant refers to the flag that is flown at the ballpark of the respective clubs within the National League and American League. Major League Baseball’s two pennant-winning teams play one another in the World Series. During Robinson’s career with the Brooklyn Dodgers, 1947-1956, the club won the National League pennant six times, but went on to win the World Series title only once (1955).
Spring Training
In Major League Baseball, spring training occurs every year for several weeks, just prior the league’s official season. It consists of both practice time and exhibition games and takes place in the warm climates of Arizona and Florida. In 1946, Robinson’s first season, the Dodgers held spring training in Daytona Beach, Florida, and in 1947 it was held in Havana, Cuba.
Uncle Tom
Taken from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Uncle Tom is a derogatory term used for people who are subservient to their oppressors. Most frequently, the term is used by African Americans to criticize the behavior other African Americans. In his autobiography, I Never Had It Made, Jackie Robinson points out that “no one should be brainwashed into believing Uncle-Tomming is a black habit. In the service, in my business associations, and in politics, I have seen some of the most creative kissing of behinds done by white people that one can imagine” (203).
