four decades later that fight would reach a culmination of sorts with jackie robinson jackie robinson like. you know really good looking guys you know. when he joined the brooklyn dodgers in one thousand forty seven jackie robinson became the first african-american the play for a major league baseball team literally changing the face of mainstream american sports in baseball it's not sure what you are but when you play the game. jackie robinson surest way like jack johnson before him robinson demonstrated great courage in the face of the stewards and legions of white people who believe black athletes had no business playing alongside whites for a while over time we've rightly paid tribute to this amazing display of courage and perseverance and lots and a we continue to remember and honor and celebrate the fact that jackie robinson was a pioneer in the fight to integrate major league baseball the harder edges of what he was all about were softened in the sentiment from the start he better than. i can be the first negro to ever been organized baseball mom if i'm going to know if i can m

so why does jackie robinson have a different color?that was the colors of the brooklyn dodger uniform. >> jacky robinson, the only number retired in all of baseball. ladies and gentlemen, yankee stadium! we're out on the field right now. how's it feel? >> it feels unbelievable. ahh, that's what i want to hear. >> as many times as i've stepped on the field, i never lose that feeling just take it in, just enjoy that moment. it's the best view of the field. one very special item is in this refrigerator. it's the whipped cream that a.j burnett had popularized last year with about 16 walk-offs that we had here. this is it, right here. this is the inner sanctum, tyler. >> wow. when you look around you can see some of the players. >> what do kids want to know when they come here for the first time? >> where's derek's locker? he's a very popular guy, and that would be his locker at the end. >> so are those tv's in the lockers? >> no, those are computers. all of the regulars have that. >> and uh, what do they use them for? >> they could go onli

dubois, and how jackie robinson had broken the baseball barrier. and we remembered the opera singer who was not allowed to sing in the hall and had to sing in lincoln center. all the discrimination and the local in justices. like, everything was separate and unequal. the school was inadequate. we could not go to the hospitals. they built a house adjacent to the main hospital. the white people were not supposed to be in the same room with an n-person. you know the n-word? i said to myself at the end of the day that i love my country and i'm glad that that day, i took a stand. i saw through the supreme court that the flaws that america had tried to correct them by removing those horrible signs -- "white" and "colored." i said when i testified at the trial, i went through how we were treated, and the lady dramatize it, so i do not have to go through that, but it is the whole system of separate but unequal. it is understates rights -- is under states' rights. after lincoln had freed us from slavery, they instituted this law, separate but equal, and the

awarded a national humanities medal to the biographer known for his work profiling hughes and jackie robinsonothers. a total of 20 medals were awarded for humanities in the arts. other honorees were quincy jones and james taylor. >>> cyclists are trying to put the brakes on a proposal to make them get license plates for their rides. lawmakers say the plan would raise $2 million for the coffers in the first year. they would have to pay to license private bikes for delivery people. kids 18 and under would be exempt. >> such a deal. >> what do you mean? >> in sports some. >> the warriors make a change in their starting lineup. they built a 20-point lead on the road? the road? what could go paul ? oh, hey, charlene. what are you doing ? this is to help me with my online investing. i'm so overwhelmed by jargon and trading tools and data that i need to get as much blood to my brain as possible, just to make sense of it all. touch the ball. whoa ! get sharebuilder from ing direct. hey, my headache's gone. it's french's crunchy onion chicken! (announcer) for a quick and easy dinner crush french fried

you know, it was before jackie robinson. it was before martin luther king. it was before the armed forces were integrated. it was before rosa parks. it was really the dark ages in the history of civil rights in this country, and all of a sudden, a 23-year-old woman, billie holiday, is singing about lynching. and i think that the song had enormous shock value. it just sort of jolted people in a way they'd never been jolted before, and i think it kind of emboldened other people who cared about these things to try to do something about it. so the song had an enormous impact. let's take a moment and give our viewers a chance to hear this extraordinary song. (holiday) ♪ southern trees ♪ bear a strange fruit: ♪ blood on the leaves ♪ and blood at the root, ♪ black bodies swingin' ♪ in the southern breeze. ♪ strange fruit hangin' ♪ from the poplar trees. ♪ the voice of billie holiday. in your book, you quote the late jazz writer leonard feather as saying that "strange fruit is the first significant protest "in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism."

du bois, langston hughes, jackie robinson and ralph ellison, and he has edited critical editions of the works of richard wright and langston hughes. [applause] philip roth. [applause] the 2010 national humanities medal to phillip roth for his contributions to american letters. mr. roth is the author of 24 novels, including "portnoy's complaint" and "american pastoral," which won the 1998 pulitzer prize, and his criticism has appeared in our leading literary journals. [applause] gordon wood. [applause] the 2010 national humanities medal to gordon wood for scholarship that provides insight into the founding of our nation and the drafting of the united states constitution. dr. wood is author and editor of 18 books, including "the radicalism of the american revolution," for which he earned a pulitzer prize. [applause] >> i think it is entirely appropriate for all of us to stand and give a warm congratulations to the recipients of these awards. not the recipients -- you do not have to stand. well, congratulations to all the recipients. we're going to take some quick pictures with them, and t

his award winning books have profiled langston hughes, jackie robinson, and he has edited critical editionsworks of richard wright and langston hughes. [applause] philip roth. [applause] the 2010 national humanities medal to philip roth for his contributions to american letters. he is the author of 24 novels and won the 1998 pulitzer surprise. his criticism has appeared in our leading literary journals. [applause] gordon wood. [applause] the 2010 national humanities medal for scholarship that provides insight into the founding of our nation and the drafting of the u.s. constitution. he has been rather an editor of 18 books and earned a pulitzer prize. [applause] >> i think it is entirely appropriate for all of us to stand and give a warm congratulations to the recipients. not the recipients, you don't have to stand. [applause] congratulations to all the recipients. we are going to take some quick pictures with them, and then usually we have a party around here. our marine band is a very good, and the food is pretty good around here, to pre enjoy yourselves, and helped -- thanks for helping