Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports and the American Dream

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations. Joe Dorinson, born in Jersey City, NJ on 15 November 1936, grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. He entered Stuyvesant High School in September 1951. After graduation in 1954, he attended Columbia College and Columbia University Graduate School where he earned several degrees including an A.B.D. (all but dissertation). In 1960 Joe began his pedagogical career as a substitute teacher in Harlem. The highlight of his early experience in the classroom occurred in the spring of 1963 when he was invited to teach at his Alma Mater, Stuyvesant. Fired by the “Flea”—Leonard Fliedner: the principal, Dorinson moved up to higher education with temporary stops at Lehman College (CUNY), Newark State (now Kean College of New Jersey), Columbia School of General Studies, and St. Francis College of Brooklyn. He began at his current position LIU in September 1966. Rushed into service with the sudden departure of Dean Milton Klein, he branched out to cover new fields in American history. In the ensuing 48 years, he accomplished many firsts. He introduced new courses in American Social History (1970), Sports History (1974) the Holocaust (1976), Psychohistory (1981), and Islam (1993). He was LIU’s first Danforth Associate (1980) and the first recipient of the prestigious David Newton Award for excellence in teaching (1988). He also broke new ground with four conferences that he conceived to honor Jackie Robinson, Paul Robeson, Brooklyn, and Basketball. With the assistance of highly motivated colleagues, he engineered these major events in April 1997, February 1998, October 1998, and November 2001. A walker in the city, Dorinson took his students on tours of Brooklyn and Manhattan before hip surgery curbed his enthusiasm for long treks. Among his innovative techniques were regular museum trips coupled with art reviews. A pioneer on the frontier of writing across the curriculum, Joe presided over this movement and applied new strategies of writing and collaborative learning in the classroom. His books edited with Dr. Joram Warmund, Jackie Robinson: Race, Sports and the American Dream (Armonk NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1998) earned a SABR award for best research in 1998. Another book, co-edited with William Pencak, Paul Robeson: Essays on His Life and Legacy (Jefferson NC: McFarland, 2002) continues to attract readers. His latest book, Kvetching and Shpritzing: Jewish Humor in American Popular Culture (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2015) elicited both kudos and laughter. Combining theory with practice, Joe Dorinson assayed the role of a stand-up comedian. He wanted to perfect his skills in the transmission of wit and wisdom to his students. As a specialist in sports and local history--Brooklyn is his beat--Joe has appeared on television as well as radio discoursing on “Jews & Baseball: A Love Story,” on Long Island Cable about Frank Sinatra, on Fox News about President Clinton’s impeachment crisis and George Bush’s controversial victory, on WLIW Channel 21 about Brooklyn and at Channel 55, Long Island about Babe Ruth. Dorinson has also appeared on B-CAT and Staten Island Access Cable discoursing on sports, ethnicity, Joe DiMaggio and the American experience. No stranger to community involvement or leadership, Joe served as President of the Madison-Marine Civic Association (1986-1989, as Member of Community School Board 22 in Brooklyn (1989-1996) and currently as member of Brooklyn’s Community Planning Board 15 since 2010. Out of these varied experiences came a series of publications in a variety of refereed journals and many papers at international conferences. A popular speaker on the lecture circuit, Joe has worn many hats at LIU Brooklyn. He spearheaded the Guided Studies Program, (a precursor of Freshman Studies) for disadvantaged/high-risk students from 1973-1979. He served as Assistant Dean of the Business School until a school strike compelled him to choose labor over management. Unable and unwilling to cross a picket line, (such a move ran counter to his secular religion), he ended a promising career in administration and returned, proudly and effectively, to the class room where he continues to excel according to student evaluations. From 1985 to 1997, he served as Chair of History forging a department of civility, harmony, and common purpose rather than rancor and division which had prevailed prior. Now retired since August 1, 2019 after fifty-nine years as an educator, Joe continues to research, lecture, and write--hopefully in good health. Joe is very proud of the many success stories among his former students, namely, City Councilman Alan Maisel, Burt Sacks, Mitchell Elberg, Wayne Dawkins, and Gale Steven-Haynes to name only a few of the best and the brightest. The secret of Joe's success is family that embraces his beloved bride of fifty years, Eileen, an outstanding educator and UFT Chapter Chair at Brooklyn’s P.S. 139 and 134 in her own right before retirement, and his children: Hilary, an Occupational Therapist at Cornell-Weill Medical Center; Paula, a Fordham PhD in school psychology currently in a new job at the Berkeley-Carrol School, and Robert, a former football star and scholar-athlete at Midwood High School, with Deloitte & Touche in their financial security program. The Dorinson family, now numbering five grandchildren--both the nuclear and extended family--powers his engine and encourages him to stay at age 83--in the words of Bob Dylan--forever young. 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