&&000 I Never Had it Made p3
&&111
My grandfather was born into slavery, and although my mother and my
father, =Mallie and =JerryRobinson, lived during an era when physical
slavery had been abolished, they also lived in a newer, more sophisticated
kind of slavery than the kind Mr =Lincoln had struck down. My parents were
married in =1909, and my father worked on a plantation for twelve dollars
a month. My mother encouraged him to confront his boss and ask for a
better deal. Since he didn't want to lose him, the boss agreed to let my
father become a half-cropper. That meant that, instead of working for a flat
sum, he would get half the profits from whatever he produced from the earth.


&&000 p26
&&111
In =1910 =BranchRickey was a coach for =OhioWesleyan. The team went to =SoutBend,
=Indiana, for a game. The hotel management registered the coach and team but refused
to assign a room to a black player named =CharleyThomas. In those days college
ball had a few black players. Mr =Rickey took the manager aside and said he would
move the entire team to another hotel unless the black athlete was accepted.
The threat was a bluff because he knew the other hotels also would have refused
accommodations to a black man. While the hotel manager was thinking about the
threat, Mr =Rickey came up with a compromise. He suggested a cot to be put in his
own room, which he would share with the unwanted guest. The hotel manager wasn't
happy about the idea, but he gave in.

&&000 p51
&&111
I couldn't hit my stride. With a sick heart, damp hands, a sweaty brow, and nerves
on edge, I saw my team go down to defeat in two of the three games. To make up for
this we would have to win three out of the four final games to be played in =Montreal.
When we arrived in that city, we discovered that the =Canadians were up in arms over
the way I had been treated. Greeting us warmly, the let us know how they felt.
They displayed their resentment against =Louisville and their loyalty to us on the first
day of our return to play the final games by letting loose an avalanche of boos against
the =Louisville players the minute they came on the field.

&&000 p76
&&111
The late =MalcomX had a very interesting comment on the progress of the Negro. I disagreed
with =Malcom vigorously in many areas during his earlier days, but I certainly agreed with
him when he said, "Don't tell me about progress the black man has made. You don't stick
a knife ten inches in my back, pull it out three or four, then tell me I'm making progress."
=Malcom, in a few well-chosen words, captured the essence of the way most blacks, I believe,
think today. Virtually every time the black stands up like a man to make a protest or tell
a truth as he sees it, white folks and some white-minded black folks try to hush or shame him
by singing out that "You've come a long way" routine.

&&000 p101
&&111
I had no idea -- and I am sure that girl never dreamed -- that her innocent question and my
candid reply would cause all hell to break loose.  The next day headline stories were
published. A =Cleveland writer tried to take me apart in an article in which he described me
as a soap box orator and a rabble-rouser. Many hate letters, a lot of then anonymous, came
into our club attacking me. When Commissioner =Frick sent for me, I anticipated a strong
verbal rebuke and possibly disciplinary measures.  I was ready, however, because I had said
what I meant. I told the commissioner as soon as I faced him that I would repeat what I had
said to anyone who asked me the question again.  If the =Yankees were so concerned, why didn't
they answer in the only convincing way they could, by hiring some black players?

&&000 p126
&&111
At the time I joined =BillBlack, =RoyWilkins, who was even then executive secretary of the
=NAACP, had asked if I would chair the organization's Freedom Fund Drive. This was a national
drive to raise major funds for the organization's activities. Membership recruitment and other
activities around the country were coordinated from the national office. I have a feeling that
when Mr =Wilkins asked me to head the drive, he did so in the same spirit that many organization
heads ask public personalities to participate in their work. Get these personalities to agree
to the use of their names on the letterheads, attend press conferences and a couple of ceremonial
events, take a few publicity pictures, but let the real work be done by others.

&&000 p151
&&111
After =Jackie's very early years in school, it became obvious that his problems were becoming
serious. He began to dislike school intensely, and in time he earned the reputation of being a
troublemaker. =Rachel had endless and seemingly fruitless conferences with the teachers, and
her efforts to help =Jackie with his homework were untiring. =Jackie and =Rachel were close to
each other, and =Rachel often felt that she had helped and that some progress was being made.
=Sharon was also in public school, working conscientiously and doing well. When it was time to
send =David to school, our awareness of =Jackie's miseries made us decide not to risk public
school again, and we sent =David to a private school nearby.

&&000 p176
&&111
Although I had disagreed with =Malcom intensely on many issues before he fell from grace within
=ElijahMuhammad's official family, I had rated him as articulate, incredibly sharp, and intelligent.
Despite our differences, I realized that he projected a great image for young black kids who needed
virile black males to emulate. Because he had been in prison, had associated with whores and
dope addicts, and had come out of it to prove that people can rise from the depths, =Malcom had a
strong appeal for youngsters that lasted far beyond his death.
=Malcom attacked so-called moderate blacks as well as the white man devil.

&&000 p201
&&111
=LBJ's Southern background had something to do with the force he exerted when he became a
civil rights President. This personal theory is grounded on my own experience in baseball.
Some Southern-bred ballplayers who were initially appalled at the idea of having a black
teammate turned out to be allies when they realized the economic gains for baseball. When you
strip away all the demagogic talk on both sides and get right down to the real nitty-gritty,
the black and white Southerners have the basis for a much more genuine understanding of each
other and realization of their absolute need for each other on a partnership level than
Northern blacks and whites.


&&000 p226
&&111
When =Jackie had left home to go into the service, we drove him to the train and I suppose
I had the thoughts any father has watching his son leave for the service. I was proud of him
and I was concerned because I knew quite well there was a chance he might never come back.
I was worried because I knew that telling him good-bye was touch for =Rachel. As he was about
to leave us, =Rachel reached out and took him in her arms in a loving hug. Impulsively, I wanted
to do the same thing. But just as I raised my arms to embrace him, his hand shot up and stopped
me, and he took my hand in his in a firm handclasp. In our unspoken language, I knew that the
love was there but what he was telling me was that men don't embrace.