Jack Roosevelt Robinson

In 1919, Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia during the Spanish flu epidemic. He was the youngest child out of five people. He lived in a poor place. Growing up, he joined a local neighborhood gang. In 1936, Jackie Robinson captured a Junior Boy’s Single’s Championship in the annual Pacific Coast Negro Tennis Tournament. Future major league baseball Hall of Famers Ted Williams and Bob Lemon were on this team. In April 1945, he became a professional baseball player. On February 10, 1945, Robinson and Rachel Isum got married. In 1947 he became the first African-American to play for the major leagues in the modern era. His team didn’t like him and the spectators jeered him just because he was black. It was very hard for him, but he carried on trying, so he won respect. He also scored second best in runs that year. He was very happy when two other black ball players signed in the major-league. In 1949 he was the most valuable player in the National League. He supported the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s. In 1952 and 1953 the Dodgers won because of him. Jackie Roosevelt Robinson became America’s first black superstar. He retired in 1956 from baseball. He was a businessman and a humanitarian. He was the first negro in the Hall of Fame for baseball. In 1972, Jack Roosevelt Robinson died.

I chose Jackie Robinson because he was a hero to almost all of his fans for his great baseball playing and his help for his team, and his great dream to break the color barrier.