Andscape’s David Dennis Jr. has made the argument that veterans of the struggle for African American civil rights should be treated and honored like military veterans. In both his New York Times opinion essay and his 2022 book The Movement Made Us: a Father, a Son, and the Legacy of a Freedom Ride, he relays how activists like his father, David Dennis Sr., endured physical and psychological trauma that carried with them decades after putting their lives on the line to confront the evils of Jim Crow.
But it’s not just those freedom fighters who bear these scars. It’s every black citizen who dealt with the indignities of segregation and lived long enough to share their experiences with future generations. And that brings us to Reggie Jackson, who ahead of the MLB’s Tribute to the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field on Thursday, bluntly talked about his experiences while playing minor-league ball in Birmingham. “Mr. October” cut straight through the celebratory nature of Thursday’s pregame festivities for a few minutes, admitting that it wasn’t easy for him to return to Birmingham. He gave the viewing audience a window into what he endured in the late 1960s.
Let’s set the scene. The Birmingham A’s dropped Jackson into hostile territory when they called him up in 1967. The former Arizona State standout and No. 2 overall pick of the prior year’s draft was entering a city that became infamous all throughout the 1960’s.
The iron hub had long been known as the most segregated city in America with a reputation for extreme violence to maintain white supremacy. Former Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor stridently enforced the city’s “Checkers Rule”, a nickname for an ordinance that ruled it unlawful for blacks and whites to play games like baseball, football, and yes, checkers together. So when a federal court decision in 1961 ruled that Birmingham’s segregated public facilities were unconstitutional, Connor and mayor Art Hanes surprisingly complied with the ruling in a shocking 180 move…
…just kidding, they opted to shut down all of Birmingham’s public parks instead of integrating and that included historic Rickwood Field. This effectively killed the original Birmingham Barons and the city went without a minor-league franchise for two years until 1964. That was when owner Albert Belcher collaborated with Kansas City A’s owner Charlie Finley to bring the team back, and this time fully integrated, after the Birmingham City Council repealed segregation ordinances like the “Checkers Rule” the summer prior. That opened the door for Jackson to make his one-year stop in Birmingham before beginning a Hall of Fame career in the majors. But even though the laws were changing, the hostility was still present and the then 21-year-old prospect from the Philadelphia suburb of Cheltenham Township, PA, got his first taste of harsh racial abuse in the Deep South.
Jackson relayed to the Fox pregame panel his experiences being denied service in public spaces, as well as a harrowing story of his life being threatened for sleeping on the couches of teammates like Rollie Fingers and Joe Rudi. He even credited them for helping him survive throughout the 1967 season.
“I would’ve never made it. I was too physically violent…I would’ve gotten killed here because I’d have beat somebody’s ass and you would’ve saw me in an oak tree somewhere.”
Reggie Jackson still carries this pain 57 years later. You can hear it in his voice as he emphasizes “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.” Him sharing these stories on national television is important because the generation who dealt with Jim Crow head on is dying out and we got a sobering reminder of that with the death of Willie Mays earlier in the week. These stories provide us with a glimpse into the suffering experienced by individuals in this country, whether it’s David Dennis Sr. registering voters in Mississippi, young Jackson traveling on the A’s bus in the Southern League, or ordinary citizens going about their daily lives.
The past is never too far away, and it’s vital that we listen to the people who bear the scars from it.