The integration of baseball in 1945 marked a pivotal milestone in America's struggle for racial equality. But while many accounts celebrate the Black player who heroically broke the Major League's color line and the White executive who defied it, the real story is far richer. In Opening the Door for Jackie, Keith Crook reveals the long-overlooked contributions of A. Philip Randolph, Walter White, Vito Marcantonio, Joe Cummiskey, Paul Robeson, Philip Murray, Henry A. Wallace, Ben Davis, Jr., Claude Lightfoot, and others who created the pressure. Crook also reveals how Robinson's signing ignited the legendary feud between Branch Rickey and Larry MacPhail.

Peter Eisenstadt goes further in his new biography of Jackie Robinson, depicting a civil rights crusader whose trailblazing journey was more than just a role thrust upon him. It was politically informed and consciously connected in Robinson’s mind to a vision of full Black citizenship. Integration at Second Base explores the man’s political and spiritual roots from his boyhood in Pasadena to his service days — during which he was court-martialed for refusing to change seats on a segregated bus. Robinson went on to a transcendent athletic career. But in his life after baseball he continued to serve as a civil rights leader. Despite his success, he was convinced at the end of his life that he “never had it made.”

Clarence Taylor, Professor Emeritus (CUNY Graduate Center), leads this conversation about Robinson’s remarkable life and complex story.

LOCATION: Martin Segal Theater, The Graduate Center (CUNY), 365 Fifth Ave