The Interest Convergence Principle and the Integration of Major League Baseball

Abstract

The integration of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 1947 has long been considered a triumph in America’s ongoing battle with racism and racial discrimination. An undeniably significant accomplishment, Branch Rickey’s signing of Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1946 indubitably evokes altruistic feelings of racial progress in America. However, Bell’s interest convergence principle argues that elite Whites in America will not further the status of Black Americans without receiving equal or greater benefit in return for their so-called altruism. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to provide readers with a worthwhile and critical new perspective regarding the integration of MLB by analyzing it through the lens of the interest convergence principle.