The Court-Martial of Jackie Robinson: The Baseball Legend's Battle for Civil Rights during World War II

by Michael Lee Lanning

Overview

Eleven years before Rosa Parks resisted going to the back of the bus, a young black second lieutenant, hungry to fight Nazis in Europe, refused to move to the back of a U.S. Army bus in Texas and found himself court-martialed. The defiant soldier was Jack Roosevelt Robinson, already in 1944 a celebrated athlete in track and football and in a few years the man who would break Major League Baseball’s color barrier. This was the pivotal moment in Jackie Robinson’s pre-MLB career. Had he been found guilty, he would not have been the man who broke baseball’s color barrier. Had the incident never happened, he would’ve gone overseas with the Black Panther tank battalion—and who knows what after that. Having survived this crucible of unjust prosecution as an American soldier, Robinson—already a talented multisport athlete—became the ideal player to integrate baseball.

This is a dramatic story, deeply engaging and enraging. It’s a Jackie Robinson story and a baseball story, but it is also an army story as well as an American story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811771917
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/15/2022
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Michael Lee Lanning, who graduated from Texas A&M, served more than twenty years in the U.S. Army, retiring as a lieutenant colonel with the Senior Parachute Badge, Combat Infantryman’s Badge, Ranger Tab, and Bronze Star. In Vietnam he commanded an infantry platoon, a recon platoon, and a rifle company. His military career included service as public-affairs officer for Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and similar work in the Department of Defense Public Affairs office. He has spoken at conferences on the African-American Soldier at the D-Day Museum and Tuskegee University and has appeared on NPR, CBS, and the History Channel.

He has written twenty-four nonfiction books on military history, sports, and health, with more than 1.1 million copies of his books in print in fifteen countries and twelve languages. His previous books include the classic Vietnam, 1969-1970: A Company Commander’s Journal, which the New York Times called “one of the most honest and horrifying accounts of a combat soldier’s life to come out of the Vietnam War.”

A native of Texas, Lanning lives in Lampasas, Texas, just west of Fort Hood.

Table of Contents

Author's Note xi

Introduction 1

1 Racism: The Two-Headed Snake 3

2 Georgia to California 5

3 The Athlete Emerges 16

4 UCLA and Rachel Isum 20

5 Early Stances against Racism 25

6 After College 28

7 African Americans and Military Service 32

8 2nd Lt. Robinson 34

9 Medical Issues 41

10 Camp Hood, Texas 45

11 Back of the Bus 49

12 The Charges 53

13 The Statements 55

14 The Investigation 63

15 The Court-Martial 70

16 The Verdict 81

17 Final Army Days 86

18 The Negro Leagues 90

19 Branch Rickey 94

20 Spring Training 102

21 Montreal Royals 107

22 Breaking the Color Barrier 111

23 Federal Bureau of Investigation 117

24 House Un-American Activities Committee 120

25 Fame, Death Threats, and Retirement 124

26 Life after Baseball 128

27 More FBI 131

28 Final Days 135

29 Legacy 137

30 Conclusion 141

Epilogue: People, Places, Things-Today 143

Historical Perspective 1 Slavery and Racism 150

Historical Perspective 2 Grady County, Georgia 155

Historical Perspective 3 Spanish Flu Epidemic 156

Historical Perspective 4 Pasadena, California 157

Historical Perspective 5 African Americans in the Military 158

Historical Perspective 6 Max Schmeling 161

Historical Perspective 7 Joe Louis 162

Historical Perspective 8 1st and 2nd U.S. Cavalry Divisions 163

Historical Perspective 9 Texas Race Relations 164

Historical Perspective 10 McCloskey General Hospital 170

Historical Perspective 11 Camp Hood, Texas, MP Station 171

Appendix A Sworn Statement of 2nd Lt. Jack R. Robinson 174

Appendix B Original Charge Sheet 176

Appendix C Sworn Statement of Capt. Peelor L. Wigginton 178

Appendix D Sworn Statement of Capt. Gerald M. Bear 182

Appendix E Sworn Statement of Mr. Milton N. Renegar 183

Appendix F Sworn Statement of PFC Ben W. Mucklerath 185

Appendix G Sworn Statement of Mr. Bevlia B. Younger 187

Appendix H Sworn Statement of Mrs. Elizabeth Poitevint 189

Appendix I Sworn Statement of Mrs. Ruby Johnson 191

Appendix J Sworn Statement of Acting Cpl. George A. Elwood 192

Appendix K Sworn Statement of Sgt. William L. Painter 194

Appendix L Sworn Statement of Acting Cpl. Eugene J. Henrie 196

Appendix M Sworn Statement of Acting Cpl. Elmer S. Feris 198

Appendix N Sworn. Statement of Capt. Edward L. Hamilton 200

Appendix O Sworn Statement of 1st Lt. George Cribari 201

Appendix P Sworn Statement of Pvt. Walter H. Plotkin 202

Appendix Q Sworn Statement of Pvt. Lester G. Phillips 204

Appendix R Final Charge Sheet 205

Appendix S Summary of Telephone Conversation 206

Appendix T Letter to Assistant Secretary of War Truman K. Gibson 208

Appendix U Second Sworn Statement of Capt. Gerald M. Bear 210

Appendix V Sworn Statement of Mrs. Virginia Jones 211

Appendix W Request for Retirement from Active Service 213

Appendix X Follow Up Request for Retirement from Active Service 214

Appendix Y Court-Martial Transcript 215

Sources / Bibliography 265

Index 271

About the Author 283