Breaking Down the Barriers

Three reluctant heroes who helped change American history

By Kathleen Baxter -- School Library Journal, 12/1/2004

Few people know about Mary Church Terrell. She may have been a slave when she was born in 1863, just like her father. However, her paternal grandfather, who was white and also her father's owner, may have freed him. As a result, Terrell had an unusual upbringing for a young American girl of the 19th century. Her biracial father became wealthy, and as Dennis and Judith Fradin tell us in Fight On!: Mary Church Terrell's Battle for Integration (Clarion, 2003), Terrell was raised in privilege and received the best education possible for an African American at that time. Throughout her life, she worked hard for equal rights—protesting in public, subjecting herself to threats and abuse, and becoming a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. At 86, Terrell joined a group that fought to end segregation in Washington, D.C. Two forgotten laws, written in the 1870s but not enforced, decreed that discrimination against blacks was illegal. Terrell's group sought to reestablish the laws' power and after a series of setbacks, their case came before the Supreme Court and they won.

Marian Anderson, born 34 years after Terrell, lived in terrible poverty but was blessed with a unique and powerful voice. Her neighbors and friends had little money but they banded together and helped pay for her education and voice lessons and Anderson did not disappoint them. Years of hard work, long rehearsals, and a series of successful performances in Europe led to what is unquestionably one of the most famous concerts in American history.

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), owners of the best concert hall in Washington, D.C., had a "white artists only" policy and would not make an exception, even for Anderson. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who was a member of DAR, resigned publicly in protest. A friend suggested that Anderson give a free concert outside the Lincoln Memorial, and the performance drew 75,000 people. It was an unforgettable moment of defiance. In The Voice That Challenged a Nation: Marian Anderson and the Struggle for Equal Rights (Clarion, 2004), writer Russell Freedman brings it all to life.

Only whites were allowed to play Major League Baseball before 1947. A separate Negro League existed, but its players made less money and garnered less recognition than their white counterparts on teams such as the New York Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Growing up in California, Jackie Robinson played football, basketball, baseball, and tennis, and held records in track. His older brother, Zack, had even won a silver medal in the 200-yard dash at the 1936 Olympics. At UCLA, Robinson was named the best all-around athlete on the West Coast. After three years in the service during World War II, Robinson played in the Negro League and was offered a chance to make history. Branch Rickey, general manager of the all-white Brooklyn Dodgers, thought Robinson might be the right man to integrate baseball. The two met in August 1945, and Branch warned Robinson that many people would do their best to make his life miserable. To desegregate baseball, Branch needed a man who would be able to "hold his anger, control his impulse to strike back, and play extraordinary ball in spite of fear." Could Robinson pull it off? History speaks for itself.

Robinson is a great American hero and Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America (Scholastic, 2004), written by his daughter Sharon Robinson, explains how this amazing man became the first African American to play Major League Baseball.

Terrell, Anderson, and Robinson had no intention of becoming heroes. They simply refused to accept injustice the only way they knew how. Their courage, dignity, and strength are an inspiration to every American.