Process Paper
Both of us love the game of baseball. Growing up and playing the sport since kindergarten, we learned a couple of great baseball players of the past. One was Jackie Robinson. We knew that he was the first African-American baseball player to play in the Major League Baseball, but we didn’t know his whole career, on and off the baseball field. Also, in the year 2013, the movie 42 was released. We watched it in the theaters and 42 became one of our favorite movies. It showed all the hardships Jackie Robinson went through playing in the MLB. His composure that he kept when being yelled at, made us look up to Jackie Robinson as a leader. This year’s theme is “Leader’s and Legacy,” so we both knew that Jackie Robinson would be our topic. What we didn’t know, however, was Jackie Robinson’s impact off the baseball diamond. As we read biographies about him, we found out what kind of civil rights activist he was, and his many letters to civil rights leaders.
During our research, we started with going to local libraries such as the King County Libraries, and the libraries on the University of Washington campus. After we had collected background information, we narrowed our topic to focus on civil rights, and started researching Robinson’s time with the NAACP. We learned about everything he did with that organization in the civil rights movement. We then found a book called “First Class Leadership” at our public library. This book included every letter written and received by Jackie Robinson. This and our findings at the National Archives made us aware of his communications with civil rights leaders, and drove our research in this direction. Also, we found the book “I Never Had It Made” which is an autobiography, written by Jackie Robinson. The source had a section about after baseball. It talked about when Robinson had joined the NAACP Freedom Fund Drive and starting the Freedom National Bank.
We decided to organize our project in a web site format because both of us had done a web site for NHD in the past. We both knew the format of the web site project, so it was easier for us to construct. We used NHD Weebly to create our web site and design. From doing NHD in the past, we wanted to do a design that symbolized the past of Jackie Robinson and we knew that using the web site would help express that.
Our topic, The Robinson Experiment: The Movement That Affected More Than Baseball, fits in perfectly with the theme, “Leadership and Legacy.” Jackie Robinson had displayed leadership by continuing to fight for more civil rights that the African-Americans deserved, after his baseball career. Without Robinson’s legacy, African-Americans wouldn’t have the privileges that they do now. As a result, Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s wife, founded The Robinson Foundation, which gives out four-year scholarships to disadvantaged African-Americans who show leadership and courage.
During our research, we started with going to local libraries such as the King County Libraries, and the libraries on the University of Washington campus. After we had collected background information, we narrowed our topic to focus on civil rights, and started researching Robinson’s time with the NAACP. We learned about everything he did with that organization in the civil rights movement. We then found a book called “First Class Leadership” at our public library. This book included every letter written and received by Jackie Robinson. This and our findings at the National Archives made us aware of his communications with civil rights leaders, and drove our research in this direction. Also, we found the book “I Never Had It Made” which is an autobiography, written by Jackie Robinson. The source had a section about after baseball. It talked about when Robinson had joined the NAACP Freedom Fund Drive and starting the Freedom National Bank.
We decided to organize our project in a web site format because both of us had done a web site for NHD in the past. We both knew the format of the web site project, so it was easier for us to construct. We used NHD Weebly to create our web site and design. From doing NHD in the past, we wanted to do a design that symbolized the past of Jackie Robinson and we knew that using the web site would help express that.
Our topic, The Robinson Experiment: The Movement That Affected More Than Baseball, fits in perfectly with the theme, “Leadership and Legacy.” Jackie Robinson had displayed leadership by continuing to fight for more civil rights that the African-Americans deserved, after his baseball career. Without Robinson’s legacy, African-Americans wouldn’t have the privileges that they do now. As a result, Rachel Robinson, Jackie Robinson’s wife, founded The Robinson Foundation, which gives out four-year scholarships to disadvantaged African-Americans who show leadership and courage.