Jack Roosevelt Robinson rose from humble origins to cross baseball’s color line and become one of the most beloved men in America. A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his immense fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for “turning the other cheek.” After baseball, he was a widely-read newspaper columnist, divisive political activist and tireless advocate for civil rights, who later struggled to remain relevant as diabetes crippled his body and a new generation of leaders set a more militant course for the civil rights movement.
Tune in for JACKIE ROBINSON: A FILM BY KEN BURNS Sat, Aug. 27 at 6pm on the WSIU stations: WSIU 8.1, WUSI 16.1, WSEC 14.1, WQEC 27.1 and WMEC 22.2 or access the WSIU local broadcast livestream online at pbs.org or via the PBS Video app. Tune in for Jackie Robinson: A Film by Ken Burns, Part 2 on Sat, Sept. 3 at 6pm or stream both episodes, anytime with WSIU Passport.
About the Film
Featuring intimate and revealing interviews with his family and rarely seen photographs and film footage, this two-part, four-hour documentary tells the extraordinary story of an American icon whose lifelong battle for first class citizenship for all African Americans transcends even his remarkable athletic achievements. "Jackie Robinson," Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides."
