Who Was Jackie Robinson? A Who Was Board Book by Lisbeth Kaiser, art by Stanley Chow, Penguin Random House, New York.
This is a children's book, but it gives a good short history of Jackie Robinson. Robinson grew up in Pasadena, California. His family lived in a White neighborhood, and they were treated poorly as they were Black. However Robinson was very good at sports, and found his niche in high school and college through sports. He played four sports at UCLA, baseball, football, basketball and track. He left college early as he needed a job, and hope to find one in sports. However all the major teams were white only. He joined the army, and after his time in the army he joined a negro league. It was hard for the negro teams as they were harassed by discrimination and finding a place to stay while traveling or heat was hard.
A team owner decided he would include Black players on his team, Branch Rickey with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He talked to Robinson and explained he would take abuse, but he would need to just take it so he could sell the idea of Black Players in the major leagues. He played for the first time for the Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He had to keep his mouth shut despite taking abuse from teammates and players from other teams. He slowly won them over, and in 1955 the Dodgers won the World Series. He had been joined by many more Black players in the major leagues.
After retiring from baseball he became a crusader for racial equality. He became a business leader and an activist. In 1962 he was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Jackie Robinson Day is an annual event in Major League Baseball observed every April 15.
