ANALYSIS/OPINION:
Brooks Robinson is from Little Rock, Arkansas — a battleground in the civil rights struggle.
It was the place where nine African-American students enrolled in the segregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957 and were met by National Guard troops who refused them entry, only finally walking into the school under the protection of the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, under orders by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Two years earlier, Brooks was a student at Central High.
Frank Robinson, who passed away last week at the age of 83, was born in Beaumont, Texas, but was raised in Oakland, California, a place whose racial politics led to the birth of the Black Panthers, founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton.