First rule: Criticism is not necessarily negative. Criticism is seeing the deeper meaning of an event, claim, essay, etc.
Second rule: Post the paragraph by Monday so we can talk about it.
Thus, for PA#6 find something interesting about the Branch Rickey/ Jackie Robinson event you attended and evaluate it. The "something interesting" could be an idea implied by the event, some quality of the event, or some idea stated at the event. In your evaluation, follow up on that quality or idea. Develop its implications. Then refer to details about the event that support your point of view.
You could, for example, look for some theme present (but not stated) in the Branch Rickey one man show. You could also analyze the acting ability or the playwriting of the event.
An example: I recently saw "The Social Network." I realized that biopics of this type have in the past tended to deify the person portrayed in the film, even if the screenwriter had to manufacture positive qualities that weren't actually there.
Lately, the victim of such films have been demonized, or at least their flaws have been quite evident even if the screenwriter had to manufacture them. Hmmm, I wondered. Does this film manifest that latter tendency or the former one?
In any case, your paragraph may look something like this:
5 Some basic info about the event, but only the info relevant to the paragraph (not all first sentences are topic sentences)
4 The principle of evaluation you are using (Don't try to write the whole essay!)
3 Your evaluation of the event
2 Evidence from the event to support it
2 Evidence from an outside source to support your evaluation
Some advice:
1. You are not writing a summary paragraph. Presumably, that paragraph appears earlier in the essay.
2. Each number above may be more than one sentence.
3. However, avoid the tendency to wander off topic or write the whole essay. Again, you are writing only one paragraph out of an essay that might be a more comprehensive evaluation of the event. Chose your principle of evaluation wisely.
The performance of “Mr. Rickey Remembers,” with Chuck Chalberg portraying Branch Rickey, provided an opportunity to see what Branch Rickey may have been like in real life. Although this monologue showed the personality and many roles that Branch Rickey had throughout his life, it focused too much on his achievements as an athlete, and little was mentioned about his academic role at Ohio Wesleyan University. As Chalberg emphasizes throughout the performance, it appears that Branch Rickey was mostly focused on his athletic endeavors while at school. There is much attention given to the fact that Branch Rickey was a catcher on the OWU baseball team his freshmen year, but the only mention of his academic career while in school was that he was interested in studying history and philosophy, leaving the audience to wonder what impact OWU really had on Branch Rickey. This portrayal should have elaborated more on how Branch Rickey did academically since OWU takes pride primarily in its academics and not athletics. As Jenn Wallace, a student who also attended the performance, recalls, “It frustrated me that the performance focused on baseball and not OWU or Jackie Robinson. For those of us who knew nothing about baseball the show was boring.” It was a unfortunate that we could not see the other sides of Branch Rickey.
ReplyDeleteFor the Branch Rickey- Jackie Robinson week, Chuck Chalberg put on a one man show called, “Mr. Rickey Remembers.” The show starred Chuck Chalberg, as Branch Rickey, sharing his life stories. Branch Rickey was believed to be an activist and a pursuer of human rights and that is why he broke the color barrier, but through Chuck Chalberg’s “Mr. Rickey Remembers,” it appears that Mr. Rickey was more of a business man. Mr. Rickey did not sign Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers because he saw the opportunity to do something great and to break the color barrier. He signed Jackie Robinson because he saw talent and he needed the best talent available on his baseball team to win games. He knew the more talent he had and the more games he won, the more money he would make. Mr. Rickey scouted Jackie Robinson and he knew that he could run and hit and throw, so he knew that Jackie Robinson would be an asset to his team and would make him money. “He also was a businessman and a committed Christian, and both of these facets of his personality helped to shape his actions and cement his legacy.” Mr. Rickey made the decision about Jackie Robinson as a business man and not as a human rights activist, because the businessman in him shaped his actions and decisions.
ReplyDeleteI was in attendance for the Heisler Business Ethics lecture by Branch B. Rickey, which discussed how Branch Rickey had brought about the combination of African-Americans into the major leagues of Baseball. During the time that Branch Rickey did this integration of the leagues, people of the United States always seemed to have hidden meanings behind their individual actions. Branch Rickey seemed to want to improve on this barrier that he used to shield a personality, which could be seen by the public as a moral citizen, one who isn’t afraid to break the racial barrier. During the lecture Branch B. Rickey discussed how Branch would not go to Baseball games on Sunday. He was a religious man Branch B. Rickey had stated during the lecture. During the lecture it seemed to be more about Branch and his morals rather than his business ethics. Branch B. showed videos of his grandfather to express how kind of a person he was and to show how he felt on certain issues. Branch B. went on to talk about more of his grandfather’s legacy than the actual business ethics behind his decisions.
ReplyDeleteThe one-man performance of “Mr. Rickey Remembers,” starring Chuck Chalberg, was an interesting portrayal of Branch Rickey’s life as an athlete and businessman. The acting was great to watch, but the content was missing something. Most people attending this performance were waiting for more talk about Branch Rickey’s days at Ohio Wesleyan. While there was a lot of focus on his athletic career and his glory days of being a businessman in charge of sports teams, there was a general absence of information about his academics at Ohio Wesleyan. The main focus of this performance was on Branch Rickey’s achievements as an athlete. If there was more emphasis on the part Ohio Wesleyan played in his life and how he benefitted from being here, more people in the audience would have been able to enjoy this show because they would be able to relate to it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was walking into the business ethics lecture, that was part of the Branch Rickey celebration, I was expecting something entirely different. I was under the impression that I was going to be exposed to the specific types of business ethics that Branch Rickey utilized throughout his career and passed down to his predecessors. However, I listened to a lecture concerning the idea of friendship and partnership in life but not so much within the business world. While Branch Rickey created a partnership with Jackie Robinson, what were the logistics of their partnership? How did they settle disagreements? How did they work together in order to create such an inspiring moral story? These were just some of the questions that I was left wondering after finding out how Branch Rickey respected his parents, respected the game of baseball, and respected every human being. For example, it was stated that Branch Rickey lost two jobs because of his refusal to break his promise to his parents about working on Sunday’s. This may demonstrate Branch Rickey’s personal qualities but it does not show how he conducted his business affairs.
ReplyDeleteChuck Chalberg's performance, "Mr. Rickey Remembers," portrayed Branch Rickey looking back on his achievements while packing up to retire. Although the one-man show was interesting, the information was lacking. The content did not include much about how Ohio Wesleyan affected him or enough information about signing Jackie Robinson. He only briefly talked about playing at Ohio Wesleyan and how he would not have made it so far without that experience. However, that was the only time he mentioned anything about the school which would have been more interesting for the students attending. His lack of commentary on the subject of Jackie Robinson also made the performance worse. The presentation was supposed to be about their partnership and he mentioned their relationship at the very end. He did not talk about their achievements but instead only gave a brief anecdote of their meeting when he signed him. A student told me after the performance that she wished he had talked more about Jackie Robinson. She, and most students, is more familiar with their partnership than any other facts from that time. If he had spoken more about it, it would have been much more intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI attended the lecture given by Branch B. Rickey on Thursday night and it wasn't what I expected it to be. He started by giving the history of his grandfather, and to my surprise he didn't discuss much of anything else. I assumed that the lecture would give a brief history of what Branch Rickey's life was like, which he did, however I also thought he would discuss the significance of what his grandfather did and how it affected him personally. This was not the case. Several times he mentioned the partnership between his grandfather and Jackie Robinson, and only once he briefly spoke of improvement for the future. That was what I was hoping to get out of the lecture, the first major step to integrate major league baseball, to the steps we as a country still need to take to reach equality.
ReplyDeleteChuck Charlberg appearing as Branch Rickey instills an important message to the audience on legacy. He played his own version of what he saw in Branch Rickey, and although Rickey may not have been exactly as portrayed by Charlberg, it was the impression that viewers formed in the end that mattered. It seemed that Charlberg gave an exaggerated version of Mr. Rickey's life, yet it may have been necessary in the case of the viewers being less educated on his real life, and the need to build an understanding of and rapport with the character through a limited amount of personality portraying situations. Charlberg's character was highly enthused, however there was something about it that gave him away as being an average guy playing Rickey. On the contrary, for a reenactment of the significant parts of Rickey's life, it was an epic performance that gave each of the viewers a little slice of what Branch Rickey would have been like in real life, and more than the legitimacy of every act and situation Rickey went through in the play is the overall picture of who Rickey was as a person and why we should admire him.
ReplyDelete"Mr. Rickey Remembers" is a one-man play performance where Chuck Chalberg acts as Branch Rickey, the Major League baseball executive and Ohio Wesleyan University alumni. Rickey, most famous for breaking down the color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson into the Brooklyn Dodgers, is much less of an angel as the media makes him out to be. There are other business-related reasons behind Rickey's decision. However, the show has much more potential of developing these reasons than its performance allows. In the play, Branch Rickey spends the majority of the time speaking to other people on the telephone that sits on his desk. It becomes very difficult to follow a one-ended conversation, no matter how talented the actor or actress may be. After a while, his "conversations" just become chatter. Seeing the businessman side of Rickey--the side held partially responsible for influencing his decision to break the color barrier in baseball-- is hard to capture when the world around him is not present. Chalberg attempts to bring the time period to life, but more people and a higher level of adrenaline would help add character and depth to Branch Rickey.
ReplyDeleteIn celebration of Ohio Wesleyan University alumni Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson, OWU hosted a Baseball Roundtable Discussion. One of the four baseball experts was Branch B. Rickey, Branch Rickey’s grandson. Branch B.’s many stories about his grandfather focused on how amazing Branch Rickey was but also hinted at the importance of Branch Rickey’s spiritual beliefs. Branch Rickey’s parents did not want him to play baseball while attending OWU, so Rickey promised his parents that he would never enter a baseball park on a Sunday if they consent to him playing. Rickey’s parents agreed to this. For the rest of his life, even after his parents died, Branch Rickey never participated in anything baseball related on a Sunday. Now Branch B. told this story mostly to impress the audience with his grandfather’s integrity, but the several other stories which followed also hint that Branch B. was also trying to communicate the depth and importance of Branch Rickey’s beliefs and how they contributed to his success. Towards the end of the discussion when Branch B. was asked by an audience member what his grandfather did that impacted him most, Branch B. stressed how his grandfather’s Methodist background greatly influenced his way of thinking. Branch B. recounted that his grandfather choose Jackie Robinson for his character and not just his skills. Branch Rickey realized that the player to break the color barrier would need to “turn the other cheek” and be above the racists digs that Robinson encountered. This idea of turning the other cheek goes back to the Bible and is a connection between Branch Rickey’s philosophy and his Methodist background. The Roundtable Discussion showed that Branch B. clearly idolizes his grandfather and greatly respected him. The stories he told about his grandfather illustrate the great things he did but also point out the importance of Branch Rickey’s spiritual beliefs. Towards the end of the discussion, Branch Rickey’s niece, who was in the audience, stood up and agreed with Branch B. saying that “our great grandmother [Branch Rickey’s grandmother] prayed a lot and was always a religious person and I think this helped Branch.” It would seem that the many people that knew Branch Rickey personally believed that many of his convictions and beliefs came from his spiritual background and were the reason for his success.
ReplyDeleteBranch Ricky is a celebrated Ohio Wesleyan alumnus for his initiation and contribution to breaking the color barrier in baseball. Throughout the Heisler Business Ethics Lecture, Branch Ricky the Third emphasized upon the fact that his grandfather’s loyalty to his morals lead him to prompt the break of the color barrier in baseball. Consequently, since this discussion was presented in slightly subjective fashion, Branch’s businessman character was largely ignored and left for the audience to piece together from the minor hints articulated by the speaker. The speaker only implied that as a business man, Branch Ricky realized that in order to make the best baseball team and gain recognition by his peers he needed the best players which were not only white. As a businessman, he would profit and gain fame based on the successfulness of this decision. Ricky’s decision to break the color barrier in baseball was not based completely on his morals and what is considered right, which was the only evidence discussed in the presentation of business ethics.
ReplyDeleteA portion of Branch Rickey’s life was portrayed by Chuck Chalberg in a one man show, “Mr. Rickey Remembers,” to get a more in depth sense of this man’s passion and motives. Although his passion may have been for baseball and his possible motive was to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, he may have done the right thing for the wrong reasons. Through Chuck Chalberg, Branch Rickey was depicted as a businessman that was focused mostly on the money and just happened to be accomplishing incredible feats in the process. He was quoted at the event, saying that he “likes ball players and I [he] likes money, but I just don’t want the two to get together.” Later in the program though he speaks of a players farm system, where players would be kept on teams until they “ripen into money” to form an ultimate team, which Rickey essentially wanted. With this system, “Rickey could develop talent without having to worry that the owner of a rival team would outbid him for a player,” as stated by Net Industries. So with this in place he would be able to get a great player, save money, and ultimately make more money from, not just one “ripened” player, but an entire team.
ReplyDeleteDuring the performance “Mr. Rickey Remembers”, Chuck Chalberg provided a first-person story of Branch Rickey’s life and allowed audiences to get an idea of what Rickey was like in person. This event, though part of Branch Rickey – Jackie Robinson Week, barely focused on the interaction between Rickey and Robinson and focused more on Rickey’s career as a manager. The play focused so much on Rickey’s career as a manager that many players’ names and scores were stated during the performance, but they did not seem to be presented in an organized manner. The performance also left the audience wanting to know more about Rickey’s interaction with Jackie Robinson and his time at Ohio Wesleyan. The presentation was about an hour in length, but only about fifteen minutes was spent on Robinson. Chalberg might have covered many years of Rickey’s life, but it was in a disorganized manner. The performance was hard to follow as many of the students do not know the history of baseball, which was the main focus. But it was difficult for people who knew baseball to follow as well. According to Jess Wright “I know baseball but he jumped around a lot so I had a hard time following it.” Perhaps having more background information on the subject and having a more chronological approach would have made “Mr. Rickey Remembers” more enjoyable for the audience.
ReplyDeleteWatching Chuck chalberg bring to life The Great Branch Rickey in his one man act Mr Rickey Remembers, made me realize that he was not fighting to break down the walls of segregation when he recruited Jackie Robinson in his league but saw gold over on its “the dark side”. Branch seeing this as a good investment for his career and his league was willing to defy all odds to get this talented player Jackie Robinson. Along the way repercussion of his actions not only changed the face of baseball but cause dynamic changes to the American society. In Chuck Chalberg’s performance he uses method acting to give a realistic performance. .This technique is quite entertaining and artistic of the actor. He continued by speaking to the audience in his character asking and answering questions during and after the performance. This invited the audience to go back to the fifty’s which made his performance genuine. When Chuck Chalberg came out of character you saw the differences which I thought were interesting.
ReplyDeleteOhio Wesleyan recently put on a week of events celebrating the partnership of Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, an OWU alumnus, and how they broke the color barrier of baseball. One of the events was a show by historian Chuck Chalberg who gave a ““first person” account of Rickey’s amazing life and his role in breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier.” Heading into the show I imagined that most of the show would be about just that, the signing of Jackie Robinson or things like why he did it and if he thought about possible repercussions. Surprisingly though the majority of the play was just about Ricky and his life as a general manager. Chalberg spent most of the time as Ricky talking about various trades he’d made and seasons he remembered. I love a good baseball discussion, but I went there to learn about a particular historic event not about trades of players forgotten by most. When I left with my room mate, who is from Nepal, he was very confused. On our way back we talked about the play and he said how he had expected to learn more about Jackie Robinson, who he didn’t know. How ever he ended up just getting lost in the forty minutes of mostly random baseball talk and lecturing on Christian names that came before any discussion of OWU and the small mentioning of Robinson at the end.
ReplyDeleteChuck Chalburg portrays Branch B. Rickey in his performance, “Mr. Rickey Remembers” as a supremely moral individual. Chalburg characterizes Mr. Rickey as a devout Methodist, so devoted in fact, that he would not appear at the ballpark on Sunday’s. Chalburg implies Mr. Rickey’s devotion to his faith with the repeated statement, “Lord, keep me humble, keep me grateful, keep me tolerant” a quotation commonly referred to in the Methodist faith. Mr. Rickey’s decision to abstain from visiting the ballpark on Sunday’s was not a religious decision. In the 2011 Heisler Business Ethics Lecture, “More than Sport: The Branch Rickey-Jackie Robinson Legacy” presented by Rickey’s grandson Branch B. Rickey III, Rickey’s grandson explained that Mr. Rickey’s decision to stay away from the ballpark on Sundays was not a religious decision, yet a promise to his mother in order to help her come to terms with his involvement in Major League Baseball.
ReplyDeleteRecently, Ohio Wesleyan University hosted its annual Rickey-Robinson Week to celebrate one its most distinguished alumni Branch Rickey who is credited with breaking the color barrier in professional baseball. One of the events held during this week was the Baseball roundtable where OWU alumni and staff who are actively involved in baseball field spoke about Branch Rickey and Baseball. One of the panel members was Ohio Wesleyan athletic director Roger Ingles, when asked about the affect World War II had on baseball he proceeded to tell the audience that we had fought World War II on the basis of race equality. According to him as a result of this supposed crusade of race equality many American felt we needed to do more at home to ensure race equality. The idea that World War II was fought on the basis of race in anyway is preposterous. In fact during World War II our own soldiers of color were only allowed to serve in such positions as cooks and officers aids and when allowed to serve in combat type positions they were segregated from the traditional units. It was not until the time of the Korean War when the Armed forces became truly desegregated and even after the orders made by Harry Truman to desegregate many did not take notice. Also according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “the U.S. did not pursue an organized and specific rescue policy for Jewish victims of Nazi Germany until early 1944.” Even through the 1950’s there were still many restrictions on letting in Jewish refugees who wanted to become American Citizens.
ReplyDeleteChuck Chalberg portrays Branch Rickey in a one man performance, “Mr. Rickey Remembers,” as the pioneer in breaking the color barrier of Major League Baseball. According to popular belief Branch Rickey broke the color barrier because he was ethically and morally sound. However, his business ambitions were the reason for his persistence in desegregating the MLB. Throughout Chalberg’s performance there were many indications of Branch Rickey being more of a selfish businessman than an ethically characterized individual. Rickey discovered the future of MLB when he found Jackie Robinson. As a smart businessman, Rickey knew that the integration of blacks and whites would cause controversy but if it meant wins for his team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, in turn meant more money in his pocket. So as Chalberg portrayed Branch Ricky, the three years he dedicated toward Jackie Robinson was more of an investment than a moral issue.
ReplyDeleteThe performance of “Mr. Rickey Remembers,” with Chuck Chalberg portraying Branch Rickey, provided an opportunity to see what Branch Rickey may have been like in real life. Although this monologue showed the personality and many roles that Branch Rickey had throughout his life, it focused too much on his achievements as an athlete, and little was mentioned about his academic role at Ohio Wesleyan University. As Chalberg emphasizes throughout the performance, it appears that Branch Rickey was mostly focused on his athletic endeavors while at school. For instance, Chalberg explains that Branch Rickey was a catcher on the OWU baseball team his freshmen year, but the only mention of his academic career while in school was that he was interested in studying history and philosophy, leaving the audience to wonder what impact OWU really had on Branch Rickey. This interpretation should have elaborated more on how Branch Rickey did academically since OWU takes pride primarily in its academics and not athletics. As Jenn Wallace, a student who also attended the performance, recalls, “It frustrated me that the performance focused on baseball and not OWU or Jackie Robinson.” It was unfortunate that we could not see the other sides of Branch Rickey in Chalberg’s monologue.
ReplyDeleteRevision of PA #6
Last Tuesday, Dr. John “Chuck” Chalberg portrayed the baseball magnate Branch Rickey as part of the “Branch Rickey-Jackie Robinson Week” celebrations at OWU. Some students, however, were dissatisfied with Chalberg’s performance. As my roommate Jason Bogdany puts it, “he should have expanded more on Mr. Rickey’s OWU life.” These sentiments are echoed in some of the blog comments above. Jenn Wallace says that she was frustrated because “the performance focused on baseball and not OWU or Jackie Robinson.” It was pretty obvious that most students weren’t getting the drift of what Mr. Chalberg was saying. This, undeniably, can be attributed to the decline of interest in baseball among the youth. Not knowing baseball stuff is okay. But what’s appalling is that students don’t know enough about the Rickey-Robinson partnership to ask intelligent questions at such an event. Not one student raised his hand to ask anything. Only old or middle-aged persons did so. This is a worrisome fact because not knowing about your college heritage, especially when it is such a relevant historical event, is nothing short of ludicrous. Jackie Robinson was the first Major League Baseball player of the modern era (Wikipedia). Did no one have a question about him? I seriously believe students should learn more about racial history as part of their college education, particularly in departments such as Black World Studies. It would perhaps help them feel a little less “lost” at such events.
ReplyDeleteChuck Chalberg’s portrayal of Branch Ricky in “Mr. Ricky Remembers” showed Branch Ricky as a scout and manager in Major League Baseball before Jackie Robinson had come along. The performance was advertised as a tale of Branch Ricky breaking the color barrier in baseball by signing Jackie Robinson. However, a majority of the play served as a portrayal of a day in the life of a professional baseball scout. This allowed the audience to see the elements of a ball player that actually matter to a scout as well as a basic order of their priorities. In the play, Mr. Ricky would describe multiple prospects to other managers as an attempt to get these players signed. The performance also showed Mr. Ricky negotiating trades and contracts with managers after the same players. All of these elements of the play helped the audience understand a scout’s train of thought and visualize the kind of players that catch managers’ attention. While leaving the play I heard someone mention that they had no idea so many things mattered to professional scouts.
ReplyDeleteAs part of Branch Rickey week, I viewed “The Jackie Robinson Story” at the Strand Theater. The movie lacked depth and completion. The presentation was not enjoyable. Jackie Robinson played himself and was not a very good actor which made the movie bland. It took away the power and emotion from the content of the story. Also, the movie spent too much time on the players playing baseball. It was not necessary to see every hit and catch, but more important to know the facts of the Jackie Robinson story. More time should have been spent on what Rickey did and how Robinson handled it. Although Branch played a big role in the success of Jackie Robinson, he did not deserve the credit for everything Jackie accomplished. Branch was only interested in using Jackie for his own financial success.
ReplyDeleteChuck Chalberg, in his one man performance "Mr. Rickey Remembers", portrayed Ohio Wesleyan University alumni Branch Rickey. Chalberg centered his show around Rickey's general manager career by talking about the many trades and decisions for the majority of the time. Although baseball was clearly a major part of Rickey's life, it was frustrating that Chalberg didn't go into much detail about his time at OWU. The performance took place at OWU, which made it all the more disappointing that Chalberg choose to omit that part of Rickey's life. Chalberg indicated that Rickey played for the OWU baseball team his freshman year and that he was interested in philosophy and history, however, that was all that he mentioned. Gabe Johnson, a first year student at OWU, stated that "Rickey's life and personality shouldn't have been summed up by what trades and general manager decisions he made."
ReplyDeleteIn the performance of “Mr. Rickey Remembers” Chuck Chalberg takes on the persona of Branch Rickey and gives an hour long monologue of his life. The audience can tell that Chalberg has done his research on Rickey because of his attention to the details of his life and his character. Although the performance dragged quite often because of the subject matter he chose, I found parts of it enjoyable because it was apparent that Chalberg was highly involved in his role. Since he was able to give a Q&A session while in character after his performance, I am convinced that he knew his role quite well. Although I had a hard time following his performance because I do not know much about the life of Branch Rickey, the people that came from off campus to see it were involved throughout and had detailed conversations with ‘Rickey’ after the show.
ReplyDeleteRevised Draft #2
ReplyDeleteLast Tuesday, Dr. John “Chuck” Chalberg portrayed the baseball magnate Branch Rickey as part of the “Branch Rickey-Jackie Robinson Week” celebrations at OWU. Some students were dissatisfied with Chalberg’s performance. As my roommate Jason Bogdany puts it, “he should have expanded more on Mr. Rickey’s OWU life.” These sentiments are echoed in some of the blog comments above. Jenn Wallace says that she was “frustrated” because “the performance focused on baseball and not OWU or Jackie Robinson.” It was pretty obvious that most students weren’t getting the drift of what Mr. Chalberg was saying. This can be attributed partly to the decline of interest in baseball among youth. But the root of the problem is the lack of adequate knowledge on Branch Rickey and Jackie Robinson. Students didn’t know enough to figure what was going on. That explains why they were baffled by the performance. Take, for example, the fact that Chalberg as Rickey was taking queries from the audience and answering them. Not one student raised his hand to ask anything. Only old or middle-aged people did so. This can only be blamed on lack of knowledge. Its worrisome because not knowing about your college heritage, especially when it is such a relevant historical event, is nothing short of ludicrous and embarrassing. Jackie Robinson was the first Major League Baseball player of the modern era (Wikipedia). Did no one have a question on him? I seriously believe students should learn more about racial history as part of their college education, particularly in departments such as Black World Studies. It would perhaps help them feel a little less “lost” at such events. And the knowing would help them to ask questions or address their doubts on an issue. Otherwise, such performances are pointless and should be scrapped.
Branch Rickey was a performance done by an independent actor, Chuck Chalberg. Branch Rickey was known for his ability to break the colour barrier between the African Americans and the Caucasians. Unfortunately, he did this by all the wrong reasons. He was known for being a very smart business man, solely because he could “ see the future” in baseball. Everyone was the next best thing, except Jackie Robinson was not the best player. He was brought in because Rickey could hustle his way into money. Money was his basic moral that allowed him to do his job so well. The performance spoke to the audience as if they were involved in the independent skit. Chalberg was able to bring the audience in by answering as Branch Rickey at the end, this is known as a method actor; one who takes the role past the performance. This was a reminder for me to reflect back on the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. It allowed me to see the race barrier and make personal connections on how I viewed the novel and the performance.
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