It was 70 years ago — on February 10, 1954 — that baseball great Jackie Robinson came to Notre Dame and South Bend to speak about brotherhood, cooperation and eliminating prejudices.
He declared that slow but steady progress was being made in race relations.
“There is very little to worry about when youngsters can band together the way you have tonight to eliminate the false thinking which many of us are guilty of,” Robinson told an audience of local teenagers at a brotherhood banquet at Hering House Community Center, the South Bend Tribune reported. “Unfortunately, some of us forget to fight this false thinking on a full-time basis.”
At the time, Robinson was already an internationally known athlete and civil rights activist. In 1947, as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. In breaking the color barrier, Robinson faced objections from some teammates, racial abuse from fans and opposing teams, and threats to his family.
Originally published by Notre Dame Magazine at magazine.nd.edu on February 8, 2024.