Jackie Robinson's Life

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“I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me…all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.”
These are the words of Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play baseball in the Major Leagues. Jackie Robinson changed the face of baseball. Back then, in 1947, blacks and whites didn’t have the same opportunities. Blacks weren’t as respected as whites were. National and American teams, like the Major Leagues, were segregated because people thought that blacks weren’t as talented or smart as whites were. Jackie Robinson proved all those people wrong and made history by greatly impacting the sport of baseball with both his mental and physical ability.
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. Jackie, being black, struggled with growing up in the South. His grandparents had been slaves and his parents worked as sharecroppers. Being a sharecropper means that they didn’t own the small piece of land they farmed. Because they were sharecroppers, money was scarce and there was never much money left over (Herman 6).
Jackie was the youngest of five children. Times got tougher when Jackie’s father walked out on his family. Jackie’s mother, Mallie, had to care for all five children and run the farm by herself. Mallie didn’t want her children growing up as feeling unequal, so she made the decision to move to California. Jackie was only sixteen months old when his family made the weeklong trip to California.

Mallie found work as a maid and bought a house in Pasadena in a white neighborhood. At first, the Robinsons’ neighbors weren’t happy when they moved in. They tried to make the Robinsons leave by shouting names at them and some even called the police when the children played in the street for bei...

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...te." Jackie Robinson - The Official Site. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .

"Jackie Robinson." Baseball-Reference.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .

"Jackie Robinson." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .

"The Jackie Robinson Foundation." The Jackie Robinson Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .

Robinson, Sharon. Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America. New York: Scholastic, 2004. Print.

Robinson, Sharon. Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America. New York: Scholastic, 2004. Print.

Swaine, Rick. "SABR." Jackie Robinson. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .

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