Out of the Box: The Brooklyn Dodgers
The Center for Brooklyn History marks BPL’s 125th Anniversary with a special series showcasing our remarkable archives and collections. Join experts, eyewitnesses, and CBH staff as they uncover gems from the collection and reflect on the history they tell.
Click here to view the entire series.
The Brooklyn Dodgers
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play on a Major League Baseball team. His courageous decision and that of Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey changed the face of the Civil Rights Movement. Join Peter Golenbock, author of the classic Dodger’s history Bums; William Rhoden, former New York Times sports columnist and author of Forty Million Dollar Slaves; and Joe Dorinson whose upcoming book is The Black Athlete As Hero, for a look at Robinson, the other legendary Dodgers players, and the unforgettable moments of the team’s “Glory Days” as told through the yearbooks, photos, clippings, and memorabilia that make up the Center for Brooklyn History’s vast Dodger’s holdings. CBH archivist Sarah Quick gives an introduction to the collection.
Participants
William C. Rhoden is a columnist and Editor-at-Large for The Undefeated, ESPN’s news site about sports, race and culture. In collaboration with The Undefeated, ESPN, and the Walt Disney Company, Rhoden established the Rhoden Fellowship. Since 2017, this one-year program identifies and trains aspiring African-American journalists from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Rhoden is also the author of several books, including 40 Million Dollar Slaves: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Black Athlete and Third and A Mile: The Trials and Triumphs of The Black Quarterback. Before joining The Undefeated, he wrote an award-winning sports column for the New York Times and appeared as a guest on ESPN’s Sports Reporters for nearly 30 years. He began his journalism career as a news reporter at the Baltimore Afro American Newspaper. He was a senior editor with Ebony Magazine and then a columnist and jazz critic for the Baltimore Sun. Rhoden won a Peabody Award for Broadcasting as the writer for the HBO documentary Journey of the African American Athlete. He was also the writer on the documentary Breaking The Huddle: The Integration of College Football, which won an Emmy.
Joseph Dorinson is a retired professor in the History Department at Long Island University, where he taught since 1966. Dorinson co-edited the prize-winning book, Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports and the American Dream (1999) and has written numerous articles on subjects spanning his beloved borough of Brooklyn, Jewish History, Black heroes, sports, politics, humor, and ethnicity. His latest book, The Black Athlete As Hero; American Barrier Breakers in Nine Sports will be published by McFarland in May, 2022.
Peter Golenbock is one of the nation's best-known sports authors. BUMS, his book on the Brooklyn Dodgers is considered a classic. He has written ten New York Times best sellers, including The Bronx Zoo (with Sparky Lyle), Number 1 (with Billy Martin), Balls (with Graig Nettles), George: The Poor Little Rich Man who Built The Yankee Empire, Idiot, (with Johnny Damon), and House of Nails (with Lenny Dykstra). He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.
