What would you feel like to be the first modern African American to play major league baseball? Well, you don’t because this courageous man named John(Jackie) Robinson took over that role. On January 31, 1919, a kid by the name of Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia. He surely did not know that he would be one day an american hero. His father was Jerry Robinson, a plantation worker. His mother was Mallie, she was a domestic worker. Jackie had three brothers and one sister. The four brothers were: Edgar, Frank and Mack. The sister was Willa Mae. Frank and Edgar are no longer alive, but Mack and WIlla still live in Pasadena, California. His dad left Mallie and the children, never to return, when Jackie was six months old. When …show more content…
Robinson saw that athletic success did not guarantee full freedom in the racially and economically unequal American society. Opposing players often reminded him of his race arguments, rougher hits, and racial slurs. (Gale) “Robinson won letters in football, baseball, basketball and track at Muir Technical High School. He also attended Pasadena Junior College. When he left in 1939, he declined offers from the major colleges around the nation and chose, University of California at Los Angeles.” Also known as UCLA. It was close to his mother, which made it more of an attractive choice. Robinson’s only had two years at UCLA because of financial pressures. He was very impressive in his two years. He was the highest scorer in basketball competition, he was the national champion in long jump, All-American running-back, and he played shortstop for the varsity baseball team. He was the school’s first athlete to letter in four sports. Sounds like a freak of nature to me. (News Break) After UCLA, Jackie was an athletic direct for a few months for the National Youth Administration in Atascadero, California. Robinson’s dream of playing professional sports pushed him to go to Hawaii in 1941 to join a semipro, racially integrated football team. They were called the Honolulu Bears. He worked as a construction worker for the during the week. On the weekends, he was a member of the team. He returned after the short football season to the United States, right after
He was the youngest of 5. in 1937 he enrolled in pasadena junior college. His first year he was a shortstop and hit over 400 and stole over 20 bases in 25 games. During his second year, he played football. He ran for more than 1,000 yards and scored 17 touchdowns in 11 wins. He ever was a kick returner and ran back a 104 yard kickoff to the house for a touchdown. in the same year he played basketball and scored about 19 points a game and led his team to a championship. Later the same year he was MVP on his baseball team leading them to a championship, all while running track. the next year he went to UCLA on a scholarship for football and led the nation with a average of 12 yards a carry. He was the first four-letter athlete at UCLA playing baseball, football, track, and basketball. He later met a nursing student, Rachel Isum, his future wife. After he left college in 1942 he was drafted into the Army and was involved in World War II.For the next seventeen years, Jackie lived a great life after retiring from baseball. He was chosen to be in the Hall Of Fame in 1962. He was a advocate to bring public attention to the African American struggle and to help end racial discrimination..For the next seventeen years, until his death in 1972, Robinson lived an extraordinary yet difficult life.Opponents were always an issue with Jackie. During the games they would use racial slurs and rather cruel
The grandson of a slave, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia; he was the youngest of five children. Jackie grew up very poor, but little did he know that his athletic ability would open the doors for his future. After his father deserted the family when Jackie was six months old, his mother, Mallie Robinson, moved the family to California in search of work. California also subjected blacks to segregation at that time, but to less of a degree than in the Deep South. The young Jackie defused his anger over this prejudice by immersing himself in sports. He displayed extraordinary athletic skills in high school, excelling at football, basketball, baseball, and track. After helping Pasadena Junior College
Jackie continued his education at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he became the university's first student to win varsity letters in four sports. In 1941, despite his athletic success, Robinson was forced to leave UCLA just shy of graduation due to financial hardship. He moved to Hawaii, where he played football for the Honolulu Bears. His season with the Bears was cut short when the United States
In the early to mid-1900s, the races in America were characterized by legal segregation because of lingering racism in America. Jackie Robinson worked his entire career not only to become one of the greatest Major League Baseball players, but also to break the color barrier in baseball. Players, coaches, and managers made a “rule” in 1884 that no African-American man could play baseball on a white team (Graf 2). Despite this decision, Branch Rickey (2) decided there needed to be a change and offered Robinson a contract with the LA Dodgers. Robinson questioned himself and questioned why Ricky chose him to break the color barrier. Rickey stated, “Robinson, I’m looking for a ballplayer with guts enough not to fight back” (Brown 3).
Robinson afterwards went to Honolulu in 1941, to play for a racially integrated team called the bears. His career playing for the Bears. He later left them for the LA Bulldogs, but around that times the attacks on Pearl Harbour had started and US had declared war on the Japs; starting WW2, Which ended his Semi Pro Football Career.
Growing up Jackie Robinson was raised by a single mother in relative poverty. In high school, he was an excellent athlete playing four sports: football, basketball, track, and baseball. In 1938, Robinson was chosen as the region’s Most Valuable Player in baseball. Though he grew up in harder conditions than most, he didn't use that as an excuse. His situation as a child didn’t hold him back, but rather motivated him to be exceptional in all he did. His older brother inspired him to pursue his talent and love for athletics. Continuing his education, Robinson, attended the University of California, Los Angeles. There he was the first to win four varsity letters. Right before graduation he was forced to leave UCLA due
He was raised by Mallie Robinson and Jerry Robinson (parents). After his father left him and his family Jackie and the rest of his family moved to Pasadena, California. From there on he ended up going to college at the University of California, Los Angeles. He sustained his learning at the University of California, LA. In 1941, in spite of his athletic success, Robinson had to leave UCLA right before graduation due to his financial problems. Jackie Robinson had 3 major influences in his life. His wife, brother and Branch Rickey. His wife always pushed him to keep going and block out everyone else.Robinson's older brother, Matthew Robinson, inspired Jackie to pursue his talent and love of athletics. Branch brought him on to his team to help make a difference in the world and MLB even when he knew how hard it would be for both him and Jackie. Rickey knew there would be difficult times ahead for the young athlete, and so made Robinson promise to not fight back when
ackie Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31st, 1919, in Cairo,Georgia. Jackie was 6 months old when his Father left their family. Then Jackiewas still an infant his family moved to California. Manfred Weidhorn noted in hisbiography, Jackie Robinson, "Jackie was proud of his mother, who would notallow the white neighbors to drive her away or frighten her or mistreat her kids.From her he learned to stand up for his rights. He learned to respect himself,demand respect from others, and never back down."Robinson starred in sports like football, basketball, baseball, and trackduring his time in high school and college. In 1939 he transferred to the Universityof California also known as UCLA. In college he excelled in the same four sports.But
Jackie Robinson was an American baseball player that initially broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Being the first in anything, a person faces several challenges in changing current practices, processes, or beliefs. For Jackie Robinson, he used his amazing athletic skills to overcome the challenges people created due to the color of his skin. Jackie was born on January 31st, 1919 in Cairo, GA to sharecroppers and died October 24th, 1972 in Stamford, CT at the age of 53. (2) Growing up, Jackie was the youngest of five children and played multiple sports excelling in four of them that included track, football, basketball, and baseball.(2) In addition to playing sports, he served in World War II in the United States Army
Jack Robinson or “Jackie” for short, was a Professional baseball player in the MLB. Although Jackie Robinson was primarily known as the first black person to play professional baseball, he had many other recognizable achievements throughout his life. On his way to breaking the color barrier of professional baseball Robinson faced many challenges and hardships. Without Jackie Robinson, professional sports and even the world might not be the same today.
Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia. Jackie was the youngest of five, his whole family was raised in poverty by a single mother. Jackie had attended high school at John Muir High School and he had also attended Pasadena Junior College, where he was an excellent athlete and played: football, basketball, track and baseball. And at that time he was the region's most valuable player in baseball in 1938. But after all that he had served his time in the military from 1942 to 1944, “Robinson served as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. However he never saw combat”
Jackie was born in Cairo, Georgia. Jackie’s mother, a single mom of five, moved her family from Georgia to California to escape racial tensions in the south. Although Jackie’s mother wanted to get away from racism, she also moved to the west to find work to provide for her family (“Robinson, Jackie”). Jackie excelled at sports in California. He went on to be a collegiate athlete at UCLA. Jackie was UCLA’s first official four-sport letter winner. Jackie lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track. He not only lettered but excelled in all of these sports (Swaine). He went on to set many records at UCLA. Jackie then began to play baseball in the negro leagues. Even though Jackie was getting payed to play baseball, he was only playing to get a good reputation and name for himself. His goal was to be a P.E. coach(“Jackie Robinson”). Jackie wanted to impact lives, and he thought a coach was a good way to do this. He never planned on playing in the
Jackie was a phenomenal athlete for young kids to look up to. After the start of World War II he served in the military from 1942 to 1944. After the war he returned to his love for baseball, playing in the Black major leagues. He was chosen by Branch Rickey, vice president of the Brooklyn dodgers, to help integrate the Major Leagues. Rickey hated segregation just as much as Robinson and wanted to change things “Rickey had once seen a Black college player turned away from a hotel… Rickey never forgot seeing this player crying because he was denied a place to lay his weary head just because of the color of his skin” (Mackenzie). He was finally able to do something about segregation and help change baseball and the United States for the better. It wasn’t that all the teams were racist and didn’t want a black player but when the major league teams had an away game they would rent out the stadium to the black teams for them to play at. And the executives of teams didn’t want to loose the money that they were making off of the black teams. “League owners would lose significant rental revenue” (“Breaking”). He soon signed with the all-white Montreal Royals a farm team for the Dodgers. Robinson had an outstanding start with the Royals, “leading the International League with a .349 batting average and .985 fielding percentage” (Robinson). After Robinson’s outstanding year he was promoted to the Dodgers he played his first game on
He started to attend the well-known UCLA to pursue his love in sports (Daniel1). While there he was closer to family to keep them company in the time of the death. Jackie Robinson continued his passion for the four sports he has played since high school. The football team consisted of 4 African American players including Jackie, one very recognizable player on the team was Kenny Washington, the first African American NFL player (Daniel1). Two tremendous and inspirational athletes came out of UCLA. UCLA had the most integrated team at the time, those four players were not necessarily liked by their white teammates but there was nothing they could do about
Jackie Robinson was born in the southern state of Georgia in 1919, and lived there until he was one, when his father left him and his 4 siblings. His mother Mallie Robinson deiced to move the family out west, she settled on Pasadena, California. As a suitable place to live for her family. Now Jackie was not