The Dodgers Link to Sanford, Florida

There is a great article today at The Nation written by Dave Zirin that provides a interesting history lesson about Sanford, Florida- where Trayvon Martin was recently killed. (Hat Tip: Roberto at Vin Scully is My Homeboy)

Zirin takes a step back to recount the days when Baseball was still a segregated sport. Jackie Robinson had just been signed by Branch Rickey to play for the Montreal Royals and they were about to start their spring Baseball in Sanford, Florida. As you'll read, Sanford has a very ugly history when it comes to race.

From "Jackie Robinson, Trayvon Martin and the sad History of Sanford, Florida":

As Jean West, a school teacher in Florida, wrote, "Branch Rickey had miscalculated the degree to which Jim Crow was entrenched in Sanford. As an example, an inanimate object, a second-hand piano, purchased in 1924 from the courthouse for use in a segregated school in nearby Oviedo, was filed as a 'Negro Piano' in the school board's record; living human beings challenging segregation certainly would not be tolerated."

It's a fascinating read about what happened in Sanford in 1946; especially when considering what's going on in Sanford today.

It's amazing how much things can change and stay the same.