JACKIE ROBINSONRuben Medina

“Maybe I’m doing something for my race”

Childhood • He lived in a all white neighborhood• The only black family• Hung out with the neighborhood troublemakers• Met a pastor who saved him from getting in trouble• Started to play sports

School life• Played many sports• Skilled athlete• Earned varsity letters for basketball, football, baseball and

track

After school • Attended a junior college • Received a scholarship from UCLA• Became a soldier

Military • Drafted in the year 1942• Where he first saw segregation • Was denied to take OCS• Was forced to face a military court for insubordination• Found innocent and was issued honorable discharge

Fame • First noticed by Branch Rickey in 1945• Met with him August 18, 1945• In 1947 he was drafted into the major leagues by the

Brooklyn Dodgers• Said he was delighted to be the first black player

Overcoming • First few seasons were hard• People yelling racial slurs at him• Pitchers abused him• Fans sent hate mail to him

Change in person• Robinson tolerated people at first• After a while he became aggressive on the field

After the game • Wrote a book complaining about what black people went

through and how they should be treated the same• He became a critic of organized baseball’s treatment of

blacks• He participated in black-owned business ventures in

Harlem