Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson was the first African American baseball player who was brave enough to play in the white baseball league when others disrespected him. He worked hard to get recognized and achieved many great championships. He is now a well known African American baseball player in the history of baseball. Many look up to him to overcome difficulties.

Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. He lived in Pasadena, California His family was the only black family in the entire neighborhood. At an early age, Jackie was influenced by his brother Mack who was the silver medalist at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Thanks to his brother, he become motivated to play well.He was not accepted by the white players.He faced alot of struggles because he was black. His favorite sport is Baseball, Football and track.

He joined the Dodgers baseball team in 1947 and stayed until 1956, altogether 9 years. He batted on his right. He thew the ball with his right arm.His hit ratio usually maintained above 30% Fielding. His brave deeds will be recorded in the LA history during a lifetime. He died on October 24, 1972.

When Jackie was at University of California Los Angeles, he was the only first black student to succeed in four different sports. He played basketball, baseball, football and track. In 1938, Jackie made local history by playing two different sports on the same day. In the morning, he had made a new record in the running broad jump. Then in the afternoon, he played baseball and his team won the championship.

Jackie Robinson was not only a good player but he was a civil rights activist and a forerunner of the Civil Rights Movement . He experienced so much racism that he wanted to make a difference in the world. He worked with Martin Luther King and Malcom X. He also wrote a syndicated newspaper column for a number of years, in which he was an outspoken supporter of both Martin Luther King Jr and Malcom X. He wanted to break the wall between black people and white people. He wanted equality. He believed that both black and white people can play any sport.

Jackie Robinson may have faced a lot of heat for playing in the white league but he has made African Americans more respected through out all of America today. Without him African American players would still have to play in their own league without much recogniton. Thank you Jackie Robinson for being a black role model to us all.

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_robinson

Written by Rivera, Ben and Pakia