Racist Army Prosecution Forces Jackie Robinson To Change Careers To Baseball

 

July 6, 1844, before becoming a legendary figure in the Civil Rights Movement for breaking the color barrier in baseball Jackie Robinson was acting with his conscious.

In 1944, a 25-year-old Lieutenant Jackie Robinson, while stationed at Camp Hood, TX. He had been through Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as a 2^nd lieutenant. On the night of July 6^th Robinson had been relaxing at the Black Officer’s Club and had gotten on the bus to go back to the central command of the base.

When he boarded the bus, he saw the wife of another officer on the front of the bus and sat down beside her. When this happened, Southwestern Bus Company driver Milton Reneger ordered him to the back of the bus.

Robinson refused, and he was by law entitled to his refusal because the Army had commissioned its own unsegregated busses. However, this wasn’t unexpected, there were so few Black officers in the military at the time and that combined with a general prevalence of White racism allowed White soldiers to feel they could ignore orders and treat Black officers, and soldiers, with the disdain and outright prejudice they would as civilians.

After Robinson refused to move. The driver decided not to fight with Robinson but was sullen and rude the rest of the drive. Part of Robinson’s refusal was based on previous bus incidents at Hood and other military bases regarding what blacks saw as a pattern of unfairness.

At the bus station, the bus driver jumped off the bus and ran away, he returned with a crowd accusing Robinson of mistreatment. Many Whites had gathered, both military and civilian, and they were angry when the MPs showed up. The MPs might have saved Robinson’s life given they were in Texas and Judge Lynch often ruled.

While he out-ranked the MPs Robinson did agree to go with them to police headquarters to straighten things out. In Robinson’s own recollection, two things happened then to make things more perilous. First, an older White woman said that she heard the bus driver tell Robinson to move the rear of the bus, and because she felt threatened, she was pressing charges. Robinson told her he didn’t care what she did. Also, another MP ran up to the crowd and loudly yelled, “Did we get that nigger lieutenant?” This angered Robinson and he yelled out that the next person he heard using that world he would break them in half.

Inside the assistant provost marshal and the officer of the day were already questioning others who identified themselves as witnesses. This and the unusually large crowd that were trying to intimidate him Robinson decided he was not going to get fair treatment; however, he would act with respect.

He was taken to his quarters at McCloskey Hospital and placed under armed guard after he was notified that he was being court-martialed for disregarding an order of a superior officer, sloppy and contentious behavior, and disrespect towards a superior officer.

Robinson attempted to use the resources he was aware of to defend himself. He wrote the NAACP and the War Department. His letters to Truman Gibson, the Secretary of War's civilian aide outlined the racism he was facing at Camp Hood and asked for advice. Gibson had been instrumental in getting Robinson and others promoted through the officers’ training at Fort Reilly, Kansas.

Gibson advised Robinson not to take things to the press and allow affairs to take course as there were men ranked higher interested in Robinson who had nothing to do with Camp Hood watching the case. This included his former commanding officer with the 761^st Tank Battalion, Lt. Col. Paul Bates. Bates was working with Robinson and the McCloskey Medical staff to see if Robinson was eligible to sign a waiver for a badly damaged ankle. Bates believed that Robinson was an excellent officer and that his interactions with the men would be good for morale in Europe.

The trial began on Aug 2. Robinson had an excellent attorney and pressure from higher-ups who did not want the bad press. Robinson himself was also a remarkable witness with his poise and unchanging story. Military brass was already struggling with embarrassing discriminatory incidents occurring all too frequently in Southern states and did not want the negative press of this trial.

Army-appointed defense attorney, Capt. William A. Cline, a white Texan, showed all the inconsistencies in prosecution witnesses' accounts during the hearings. The case collapsed and Robinson was acquitted by an all-white panel of nine officers.

While he was a great athlete Robinson had wanted a military career and was willing to sign a waiver releasing the Army from responsibility for injury caused by a bad ankle and bone spurs. It was not to be after the trail Robinson was transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, where he served as a coach for army athletics until receiving an honorable discharge in November 1944.