It seemed appropriate to post this as Baseball Has Begun again and with recognition and support of Black Lives Matter. At a time when the President has set himself as the defender of history of bases named after Confederate traitors.
This is not about Robinson’s remarkable and storied baseball career or heroism and character required to persist against mobs angered by the idea a black man would play baseball alone. I am writing about Jackie Robinson’s “history” at Fort Hood.
This is about Jackie Robinson, 3 years+ prior to breaking the Color Barrier in baseball - when as an Officer stationed at Fort Hood, he took a bus and after a refusal to move to the back after the entrance of a White Officer’s wife – received Court Martial at Fort Hood (and ultimately acquitted).
I am sure the President does not know this is Fort Hood’s history when he tweeted
“It has been suggested that we should rename as many as 10 of our Legendary Military Bases, such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, Fort Benning in Georgia, etc. These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American Heritage, and a... ...Our history as the Greatest Nation in the World will not be tampered with. Respect our Military” On June 10.
That Fort Hood’s history includes an incident less than a month after the D-day landing in 1944, that would provide a preview of post–World War II events in America was unfolding in Texas and the larger civil rights movement.
For those of you who do not know Fort Hood is named after Confederate Traitor John Bell Hood. Hood was a graduate of West Point: his classmates included James B. McPherson and John M. Schofield; he received instruction in artillery from George H. Thomas. These three men became Union Army generals who would oppose Hood in battle. Hood chose to be a traitor.
Hood Chose to serve the Confederacy resigning from the Army, dissatisfied with his home state’s neutrality, so moved to Texas to fight in support of his beliefs (slavery).
Those beliefs are can be fairly well inferred In a letter that Hood wrote to Sherman on September 12, 1864, Hood described his conviction that "negroes" were an inferior race:
"You came into our country with your Army, avowedly for the purpose of subjugating free white men, women, and children, and not only intend to rule over them, but you make negroes your allies, and desire to place over us an inferior race, which we have raised from barbarism to its present position, which is the highest ever attained by that race, in any country in all time." Hood, John Bell (1880). Advances and Retreat: Personal Experiences in the United States and Confederate States Armies. p. 235.
In 1942 the Army Base was established and named after this Confederate Traitor. Less than two years the Racist atmosphere would lead to the Court Martial of Jackie Robinson for his refusal to move his seat to the back of the bus.
Lest there be any doubt Hood who viewed Blacks as inferior would have been proud of the atmosphere.
Camp Hood was a posting many African Americans hated, given the racial climate there. Camp Hood had already earned a dismal reputation among black officers and enlisted men, not only because of complete segregation on the post but also because neighboring towns such as Killeen and Temple were so inhospitable. These mostly farming communities were replete with hard-core racists eager to administer lessons to unwary black soldiers who might think present military status transcended time-honored racial etiquette.
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2008/spring/robinson.html
A plague for black soldiers stationed at many of the southern training camps—especially when civilian bus lines held the contract for transporting soldiers both on and off the posts—was obtaining that transportation. More than a year before Robinson's bus encounter took place, a friend of the civilian aide Gibson commented on Camp Hood's extreme case. In his letter, he described the camp as "one of the worst situations in the whole AUS [Army of the United States]" and went on to remark, "There is hostility between [military police and black personnel] and segregation on interstate buses operating on the post, and segregation in the post facilities and theaters."
Robinson was assigned to the 761st Tank Battalion, (which later distinguished itself in the European theater's Battle of the Bulge.)
The central incident occurred on July 6, 1944, exactly one month after D-day—assault landings in which black soldiers had participated—Lieutenant Robinson was forcibly reminded of how thoroughly Jim Crow still dominated the scene. As he was returning that evening to the hospital, Southwestern Bus Company driver Milton Reneger brusquely instructed the lieutenant to move to a seat farther back from the one where he sat next to a fellow officer's light-skinned wife. Robinson, perhaps conscious of being an officer and a husky one at that, refused, suggesting that the driver tend to driving instead.
Later, at his stop, Robinson and the driver continued to argue, joined by the latter's bus dispatcher, Beverly Younger, who casually referred to Robinson in his presence as "a nigger." When military policemen arrived at the scene, a crowd of indignant whites, both civilian and military, had formed, adding to turmoil and confusion. The MPs on site, none of whom outranked the lieutenant, asked him to go with them to the police headquarters to straighten out the situation. He agreed to do so. However, when they arrived at the station to meet with the camp's assistant provost marshal, a white MP ran up to the vehicle and excitedly inquired if they had "the nigger lieutenant" with them. The utterance of this unexpected and especially offensive racial epithet served to set Robinson off and he threatened "to break in two" anyone, whatever their rank or status, who employed that word.
After Robinson's commander in the 761st, Paul L. Bates, refused to authorize the legal action,[66] Robinson was summarily transferred to the 758th Battalion—where the commander quickly consented to charge Robinson with multiple offenses, including, among other charges, public drunkenness, even though Robinson did not drink.[61][67]en.wikipedia.org/...
Ultimately, after all testimony was heard, the court acquitted the defendant of all charges. Three years before he became one of the most popular men in America.
Today Robinson’s had numerous honors bestowed upon him. In 1987, both the National and American League Rookie of the Year Awards were renamed the "Jackie Robinson Award" in honor of the first recipient (Robinson's Major League Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 encompassed both leagues). On April 15, 1997, Robinson's jersey number, 42, was retired throughout Major League Baseball, the first time any jersey number had been retired throughout one of the four major American sports leagues.
And as for the honored bestowed on Traitor Hood? There was a John B. Hood Junior High School at 7625 Hume Dr. in Dallas, Texas, but it was renamed in 2016.[57] There was a John B. Hood Junior High School at 601 E. 38th St. in Odessa, Texas, but it was renamed in 2015.[58] Hood Street in Hollywood, Florida, was renamed in 2018.[59] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bell_Hood#cite_ref-53
Yet, a little over a month before baseball’s “restart” The president deliberately chose to celebrate the “history” of Fort Hood and others. Why would we want to remember it except to learn from?
Fort Robinson would sound a lot better and comport with the world we are seeing forged in 2020.