"A life is not important, but for the impact it has on others' lives."- Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in American major league baseball when he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Born in Cairo, Georgia on January 31, 1919, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was an infant when he, his mother and his four siblings were abandoned by his father. His mother, Mallie Robinson, moved the family to Pasadena, California. Growing up in Pasadena, young Jackie excelled in sports but got into occasional minor trouble running with sort of a teenage "gang." His mother, a devout Methodist who did domestic work, held the family together. Jackie's older brother won a silver medal behind Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Jackie attended and graduated from John Muir Technical High school and Pasadena Community College, then transferred to UCLA, where he met his future wife, Rachel Islum, a straight-A student. At UCLA Robinson lettered in four sports: baseball, football, basketball, and track. He also excelled in swimming and tennis.

Robinson was drafted in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army, where he began to develop an interest in standing up for the civil rights of African Americans. He assisted boxer Joe Louis in opening an Officer Candidate School for African American soldiers. Robinson was soon promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. He tended to react with anger to incidents of discrimination and injustice. On one occasion he was actually court martialled for an incident in which he refused to move to the back of the bus. He was exonerated from any wrongdoing because the order had been in violation of Army regulations.

After leaving the Army in 1944, Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarchs, a Negro League professional baseball team. In the meantime, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers had scouts visiting Negro League games to find an African American player who could be the first admitted to a major league team. Branch Rickey, who had been a major figure in baseball for many years, creating the farm team system in the 1920s, had some ethical problems with the institutionalized racism associated with the sport. Some of the old Negro League players have stated in interviews that Rickey had financial foresight as well. At the time, White public opinion held that there were no Black players that were good enough to compete in the major leagues. Sportswriters liked to say that maybe some day Black players would be proficient enough to play on the same teams as Whites, but of course, not now. In the 1940s, Jim Crow laws and widespread discrimination made it difficult for Negro League players, and African Americans in general, to find hotel rooms to stay in, restaurants to serve them, and some ballparks did not allow Blacks in the grandstands. Rickey decided it was time, and over opposition from some Dodgers team members, he met with Jackie Robinson in 1945.

Robinson was chosen from a number of candidates because not only did he have the potential to become a great player, but as a married man of 28, he also had the maturity to withstand the barrage of abuse that he and Rickey knew would ensue. Rickey had him promise that he would treat incidents of racial discrimination in a calm way, at least for the first year or two, until he was established. Indeed, in his first year with the Brooklyn Farm Team the Montreal Royals, he was subjected to so much verbal and physical abuse (fans of opposing teams liked to call names and throw things at him) that he developed symptoms of illness that his doctor diagnosed as being related to stress. The French Canadian Royals fans liked Robinson, though, and the team won the championship. The next year he was elevated to the roster of the Brooklyn Dodgers, five days before spring training ended. On April 15, 1947, Robinson became the first African American to play major league baseball.

Some team members, such as team captain Pee Wee Reese, supported Robinson from early on. Some Dodgers players took a longer time to come around, but Robinson won the respect of his teammates as they observed his courage in the face of persistent attacks. Pitchers of opposing teams threw the ball to hit him when he went up to bat; he was hit with the ball more frequently than any of the other players. He also received numerous death threats in the mail. In spite of all the pressure, he was chosen as Rookie of the Year in 1947 based on his skill and performance: in that year, his very first, he led the league in stolen bases and was second in the number of home runs scored.

Robinson had a stellar career and became one of the most popular and beloved baseball players of all time. He was MVP in 1949 when he led the league in batting. He played in six World Series during the ten years he played major league ball, and was a six-time All Star. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first try. Later in life, Robinson worked for civil rights for African Americans, and received a medal from the NAACP. At the 1972 World Series, he said that he would like to see African Americans in baseball management. (Had he lived until now, he still would not see very many. Some teams have fewer African American players now than they did in the 1960s.) Jackie Robinson died a few days later, from a heart attack. He was 53. He is remembered today as one of baseball's greatest players, and as a courageous pioneer in the integration of American professional team sports.

Susan Robinson