Reclaiming 42

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Reclaiming 42

Public Memory and the Reframing of Jackie Robinson's Radical Legacy

David Naze

234 pages
Index

Hardcover

June 2019

978-0-8032-9082-2

$45.00 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

June 2019

978-1-4962-1496-6

$45.00 Add to Cart
eBook (EPUB)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

June 2019

978-1-4962-1494-2

$45.00 Add to Cart

About the Book

Reclaiming 42 centers on one of America’s most respected cultural icons, Jackie Robinson, and the forgotten aspects of his cultural legacy. Since his retirement in 1956, and more strongly in the last twenty years, America has primarily remembered Robinson’s legacy in an oversimplified way, as the pioneering first black baseball player to integrate the Major Leagues. The mainstream commemorative discourse regarding Robinson’s career has been created and directed largely by Major League Baseball (MLB), which sanitized and oversimplified his legacy into narratives of racial reconciliation that celebrate his integrity, character, and courage while excluding other aspects of his life, such as his controversial political activity, his public clashes with other prominent members of the black community, and his criticism of MLB.

MLB’s commemoration of Robinson reflects a professional sport that is inclusive, racially and culturally tolerant, and largely postracial. Yet Robinson’s identity—and therefore his memory—has been relegated to the boundaries of a baseball diamond and to the context of a sport, and it is within this oversimplified legacy that history has failed him. The dominant version of Robinson’s legacy ignores his political voice during and after his baseball career and pays little attention to the repercussions that his integration had on many factions within the black community.

Reclaiming 42 illuminates how public memory of Robinson has undergone changes over the last sixty-plus years and moves his story beyond Robinson the baseball player, opening a new, broader interpretation of an otherwise seemingly convenient narrative to show how Robinson’s legacy ultimately should both challenge and inspire public memory.
 

Author Bio

David Naze is the dean of academic excellence and support at Joliet Junior College. 
 
 

Praise

"Reclaiming 42 is a welcome addition to the literature on Jackie Robinson."—Eric Allen Hall, Journal of African American History

"Readers will come away with a truer and more nuanced view of the man, as ballplayer and political actor."—Thomas Wolf, NINE

"This book by Dave Naze should be on every baseball fans bookshelf no matter what team you show allegiance to or your views on political matters."—KNUP Sports

Reclaiming 42 is a must-read for anyone interested in the relationship between sports and politics. It will appeal to baseball novices and baseball experts alike. David Naze’s exploration of Jackie Robinson’s vocal critiques of racial inequalities, and modern-day efforts to erase any controversial elements from Robinson’s memory, are especially timely.”—Jonathan J. Cavallero, associate professor of rhetoric, film, and screen studies at Bates College

“The story of Major League Baseball could not be told without mentioning Jackie Robinson. But his legacy too often has been simplified and sanitized, made to fit safely within our preconceived narratives about the role of race and sport in the United States. In this book, Dave Naze recovers a complex and human Robinson whose legacy exceeds the limitations of those narratives. Through a skillful analysis that addresses Robinson’s political activism and his prolific writings, as well as the ways that he has been memorialized, Naze invites us to understand that Jackie Robinson speaks not only to the ages but to our own time.”—Robert E. Terrill, professor of rhetoric in the Department of English at Indiana University, Bloomington

“A compelling contribution to the scholarship on Jackie Robinson and also on the Negro Leagues.”—Michael Butterworth, professor of communication studies and director of the Center for Sports Communication & Media at the University of Texas at Austin

Table of Contents

Preface    
Acknowledgments    
Introduction: Have We Failed Jackie Robinson’s Legacy?    
1. Robinson’s Postplaying Career: A Political Impact    
2. The Robinson-Robeson Clash: A Siren Song Sung in Bass    
3. Cooperstown and Kansas City: The Museum Narratives    
4. Jackie Robinson Day: The Contemporary Legacy    
Conclusion: Taking Inventory of a Legacy    
Notes    
Bibliography    
Index    

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