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Jackie Robinson led the way for other African Americans to play professional baseball.
Many of them have talked about the debt they owe him. But the whole country owes Robinson for bringing us closer to the idea of “justice for all.”
◀ Robinson integrated the National League. Less than three months later, Larry Doby integrated the American League. Doby played his first game with the Cleveland Indians on July 5, 1947. By 1959, every major league team had at least one African American player.
Rachel Robinson met with President Bill Clinton and baseball Commissioner Bud Selig on April 15, 1997. It was the 50th anniversary of the day that Jackie Robinson integrated major league baseball. At the celebration, Jackie’s number, 42, was retired. No major league player will ever wear that number again. Robinson is the only player to receive that honor. ▶
◀ Jackie Robinson’s true story has inspired many fiction writers. Betty Lao Lord wrote In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson. It’s about a girl whose family comes from China to Brooklyn in 1947. She makes new friends who become big fans of the Dodgers, especially Jackie Robinson. Other books that feature Robinson are Thank You, Jackie Robinson, by Barbara Cohen; Jackie and Me, by Dan Gutman; and Promises to Keep, by Jackie Robinson’s daughter, Sharon.
▲ In 1973, Rachel Robinson and some friends started the Jackie Robinson Foundation. It gives scholarships to college students who deserve them. It also helps them develop leadership skills. Once they graduate, they’re expected to give back to their communities. Here are some graduates with Rachel and also Bill Cosby. He is a major contributor to the foundation.
◀ Every year, the Jackie Robinson Foundation presents a Robie Humanitarian Award. It’s given to a person who has pushed for equal opportunity and social justice in the same way that Jackie Robinson did. Past winners include: Hillary Clinton, Earvin “Magic” Johnson, and Michael Jordan (left). Here, Rachel Robinson presents the award.
◀ Jesse Martin Simms is Jackie Robinson’s grandson. At the 2002 All-Star game, he put on a copy of Jackie’s famous 42 uniform. Then he reenacted the moment Robinson broke baseball’s color line. This was part of baseball’s most Memorable Moments promotion.
