On January 31, 1919 in Cairo Georgia a little boy named Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born. This boy’s father was Jerry Robinson a farm worker and sharecropper. His mother, Malli McGriff was a domestic worker and his grandfather had been a slave. Jackie was the youngest of five children and when he was only six months old his father up and left the family with no support. After his father left the Robinson family had difficulty with money and had problems making end meet. Jackie’s family spent the first few years of Jackie’s childhood in Georgia but, they then moved to Pasadena California so Malli could better her children’s lives. At the time Pasadena was still segregated and when the Robinson’s moved into a pretty much white neighborhood they weren’t very welcomed. Jackie went to Pasadena High School where he was a star athlete in basketball, track, baseball, and football. When he graduated high school in 1937 he was famous throughout the entire city. Jackie decided that he wanted to go to Pasadena Junior College where he won Junior College All American football honors. When Robinson graduated in 1939 he was one of the most sought out athletes far and wide on the West Coast. Jackie decided to go to The University of California Los Angeles here he became an incredible college running back. In 1939 he dropped out of UCLA because he had used up his amount of time to play sports in college and he also had to support his family. From there Robinson worked at The National Youth Administration Work Camp but soon the camp was closed because of World War 2. In the fall of 1942 he joined the Honolulu Bears professional football team. Not long after joining the Bears he was drafted into the army.
While Jackie was in the army he was stationed in Texas, Kentucky, and Fort Riley in Kansas. Together Jackie Robinson and heavy-weight champion Joe Louis worked to get fair treatment for African Americans in the army. One time Jackie faced court martial charges for not behaving because he did not move to the back of a bus in the military that was segregated but, the military jury found him not guilty. In 1945 Jackie was honorably discharged out of the army. After being discharged from the army Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarch’s in the Negro League. Jackie disliked his salary which was $400 a month and all the traveling he had to do so he decided he didn’t want to make baseball a career. Not that long after though, he was offered a position by Branch Rickey, the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he signed a contract with the Dodgers on October 23, 1945. Branch Rickey chose Jackie because, Jackie wasn’t the best baseball player, had a college education, his competitiveness, and while he was at UCLA he had experience competing with white teammates. Robinson said, “I think that I am the right man to pick for this test. There is no possible chance that I will flunk it or quit before the end for any reason other than that I am not a good enough ball player.” The spring training was tough on Jackie because of segregation laws. Jackie was made to ride in the back of the bus and some games were cancelled from Jackie just being on the team. In February of 1946 Jackie Robinson married Rachel Isum from Los Angeles, California and together they had 3 children. Robinson’s playing on the field showed everyone that he was ready to play for the in the Major Leagues but some teammates made a petition against him joining the team. Branch said that players would either be cut or traded if they rejected to playing because of Jackie being on the team. Jackie Robinson had become the first African American in Major League Baseball. On opposing teams pitchers would pitch the ball at Jackie, runners would try and slice his legs with their spikes on their cleats, and of course racial remarks were made towards him. He got hate mail, death threats, and threats that his son would be kidnapped. According to Student Resource Center – Gold Jackie said that, “I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect” Robinson led Major League Baseball in stolen bases and was named Rookie of the Year. He played with the Brooklyn Dodgers for 10 years then in 1956 Jackie’s playing started to fall downhill in his batting average dropped to .256 and so he was traded to the New York Giants. Jackie received The Springarn Medal which was a medal created by the Association for the Advancement of Colored People. In December 1956 Jackie announced that he would be retiring in 1957 from Major League Baseball.
Jackie was a phenomenal player and after his baseball career had ended he became a business man mostly trying to make lives better for African Americans in the United States. Jackie became the Vice President of Chock Full O’Nuts restaurant where he employed many African Americans. He also became the chairman of board for the Freedom National Bank and was also the head of a construction company that built houses for black families and businesses. Jackie also campaigned for Senator Hubert Humphrey while he was running for Democratic president. People from Humphrey’s party didn’t want him to run with them so he decided to switch over to Richard Nixon Republican campaign because he felt that Nixon supported civil right causes. In 1962 Jackie was chosen for the Baseball Hall of Fame the first year he could enter it. While Jackie was on stage for the Baseball Hall of Fame he had three people come up with him; his mother Malli, his wife Rachel, and Branch Rickey. “I considered Mr. Rickey the greatest human being I have ever known,” claimed Jackie says Student Research Center -Gold. In 1968 he walked out as Nelson Rockefeller’s special assistant for community affairs for the Republic Government to work with Hubert Humphrey who was running for president again. Also in 1968 Jackie’s youngest son was arrested for having heroin that he had gotten addicted to. After Jackie’s son’s arrest Jackie got into anti drug addiction campaigns until his death. In 1971 Jackie’s son, Jackie Junior, died in a car accident. In 1972 Jackie Robinson threw out the game ball to open the second game in the 75th World Series at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Towards the end of Jackie’s life his health started to run down hill. He got diabetes and went into a diabetic coma, lost complete sight in one eye and didn’t have total vision in the other. Less than two weeks after he threw the ball out in the World Series he fell to the ground at his home in Connecticut and died that day from heart disease. Over 2,500 people were standing on the side of the streets while Jackie’s body was being carried to the cemetery where he was going to be buried. Before Jackie died he wrote an autobiography where he said the he was, “Still a black man in a white world” even after all he had done for the integration of America. In 1997 the 50th anniversary from when Jackie started playing in the Major Leagues his jersey number, which was 42, was retired from the Major Leagues. A man named Frommer said, “Just as Robinson had put his stamp on baseball his historic roll had stamped him.”
Picture Cite: Bernadette. "For My "Mother" on Mother's Day." This Fan's Life. Web. 04 Mar. 2010.
