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Jackie Robinson Biography
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Biography: Life of
Jackie Robinson
Born 1919, Died 1972
Jack Roosevelt Robinson, known to the baseball world as Jackie Robinson, was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. His father deserted the family when Robinson was six months old. The next year his mother moved the family to Pasadena, California hoping for a better life.
Racial conditions were not much better in California than they had been for the black family in Georgia. The young Jackie Robinson, having been taught self-respect by his mother, resented the discrimination they faced and got into petty trouble. With the encouragement of his mother, a caring neighbor and his minister, Robinson turned his energy to sports. An all around athlete, Jackie Robinson played football, basketball, baseball and ran track. Accepted as a friend by his teammates, he encountered racial prejudice in various forms from players on opposing teams.
In 1939 Jackie Robinson left Pasadena Junior College and accepted an offer from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). At UCLA Robinson was the first athlete to letter in four sports. Due to financial pressures Jackie Robinson left college in 1941.
Jackie Robinson worked for a short time as an athletic director with the National Youth Administration. In 1941, wanting to play professional sports, Jackie Robinson moved to Hawaii to pay with the Honolulu Bears, a semi-professional football team.
Robinson was drafted into the United States Army in 1942 and sent to a black unit at Fort Riley, Kansas. Blacks at that time could not enter Officer’s Candidate School. Through the efforts of heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis and other influential people this policy was changed. In 1943 Jackie Robinson was commissioned as a lieutenant. While at Fort Hood, Texas Robinson refused to move to the back of the bus at the command of the bus driver. He was arrested. Public outcry led to his exoneration at his court martial. He was honorably discharged in November 1944.
Jackie Robinson began his professional baseball career in 1945 when he signed with the Kansas City Monarchs, a black team. While with the Monarchs, Jackie Robinson came to the attention of Branch Rickey, who was looking for a talented black player to play on a major league team. After a grueling interview where he had Robinson agree to remain silent for three years about any racial discrimination, Branch Rickey hired him to play for the Montreal Royals, a Dodgers farm team.
Jackie Robinson was brought up from the minors to open the 1947 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Robinson became the first African American to play on a major league baseball team. Robinson encountered the usual discrimination. After the agreed upon time of silence, Jackie Robinson began to fight for equal rights in those areas where he faced racial discrimination. With time his ability was recognized and the other players began to cooperate. Jackie Robinson played for the Dodgers from 1947 to 1956. Jackie Robinson retired from professional baseball when the Dodgers decided to trade him to the Brooklyn Giants after the Dodgers had won the 1956 World Series. Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
After leaving professional baseball, Jackie Robinson became a successful businessman and community leader. He worked behind the scenes in the civil rights movement to secure a better life for blacks.
In declining health for some time, Jackie Robinson died at the age of 53 on October 24, 1972 from a heart attack.
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