As you all know or should know by now February is black history month. There are a lot of amazing people of color who have done such amazing things for this country. This month is our opportunity to thank all of them who made a difference. For this blog assignment we were asked to choose one of these amazing people and write about them and I chose Jackie Robinson.
Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson was the first African-American major league baseball player of the modern era which ended 60 years of color segregation in baseball. He was born January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia. Robinson grew up in poverty and joined a local gang that a friend later persuaded him to abandon. In high school he played in football, basketball, track, and of course baseball. Jackie was very successful in all of the many sports that he played and continued to play in Junior college. He was elected to play for the All-Southland Junior College baseball team and was named the regions most valuable player. He later transferred to UCLA where he was the first athlete to win varsity letters for four sports. Later he went to the military.
Robinson played 10 seasons for the Brooklyn Dodgers. During his career the Dodgers played in six World Series and Jackie played in six All-Star games. He was inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1962 and was first African-American with this honor. He hit 100 homeruns in six seasons and had a .311 career batting average. He played most of his rookie season at first base but most of his career at second. In his first 7 seasons he averaged 110 runs.Jackie’s contributions have been recognized in many ways.He diead on October 24, 1972. Without him in our history we wouldn’t have some the amazing players we have now. I always wonder what it would be like if things in history hadn’t happened, but sometimes I am happy to know that they did. February is a time to be grateful for the many amazing things that African-Americans have done for us and we have so much to be grateful for.Gratefully Submitted,2Jennifer
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