Imagine carrying the weight of a race on your shoulders. Many emotions would come along with your situation. Being a black child in the rural South in the 1920’s life was very hard for Jackie Robinson. Not only him, but all the families that lived around him. Jackie learns to deal with his anger and conquer his biggest dream. He became one of the most famous baseball players in our world's history today. Jackie Robinson’s life began on January 31st in 1919. Born and raised in Cairo, Georgia, he was the fifth child born to Mallie and Jerry Robinson which made financial issues even harder for the family (Herman 7). According to Davidson, throughout high school, he participated in football,track,basketball,and baseball. Blacks did not play on …show more content…
A soldier who played in the Negro Baseball League had invited Robinson to come play with him (Herman 35). It had been months since he had picked up a bat or even a ball. He was accepted on the team and became a starter for this team playing with them a few times a week. Other teams began looking at Robinson. Word went around that many teams were interested in him. The only issue was that he was a different color than what they accepted. A few months later he was still improving and now had a spot on the Kansas City team (Herman 37). Many people disagreed with the idea of him playing. Robinson’s fiery temper from when he was younger returns. Every game …show more content…
Everyone was saying he was headed to the major leagues next. People still disagreed with this idea which made him and his wife have to stay in another hotel then all the other players. In 1947 he was asked to play on the Dodgers team. Once he joined he had the highest batting average and most stolen bases for the entire team. This made more people accept him and the fact he was the only black boy playing in a pro sport (Finkelman). Jackie was the first black person to be playing in the major leagues. People were accepting this idea more and more. ”Fans screamed their hearts out for Jackie” says Herman. “He was a Dodger!” Jackie's fame has changed our world in a huge way today. In 1956 he retired with a .311 lifetime batting average and a total of 197 stolen bases (Davidson). After retirement, he was not through proving he would get rights for our country. He went and got a job for the NAACP. This led him to being the first black vice president of an American company. Even though he was not the president, he knew he would fight his way up to that position one day (Herman