Jakie Robinson

Jackie had a hard childhood. His father left one day to go to Memphis to look for a new job and never came home. Being the youngest child Jackie could not help his mom make money like his older brothers and sister but whenever he got the chance to help he did. Since Jackie's mom worked all day and there was no one to stay home with him, Jackie went to school with his older sister Willa Mae. While she was in class he was outside playing in the sandbox. His older brother Mack was the athlete of the family while Jackie was little. He came in second place to Jesse Owens in the Berlin Olympic 200 meter dash. When Jackie grew up he attended his local high school. After breaking many sports records he had many college offers. Jackie decided to go to UCLA so his brother Frank could attend all his games, but a few weeks before Jackie's first college game was played Frank was killed in a motorcycle accident. It took him a long time to recover from that loss.

Jackie played 4 college sports: Basketball, Football, Baseball, and he ran track. As time went on Jackie realized that the sport that was the least important to him was the one he was most likely to succeed in BASEBALL!

When most people think of Jackie Robinson they think of the first Negro player in a major league sport. When he was drafted to the Brooklyn Dodgers he broke the color barrier for all sports. The first session was hard for Jackie. Not all of the players liked him and most of the fans hated him. Whenever he got a hit or stole a base the fans would boo him. When the pitcher hit him with the ball or he struck out the fans would laugh at him you would think they had never seen other players get out before. But as his career went on people started to like him and admire his skills. The picture that pops into the minds of people when they think of Jackie is the one where he is stealing home against the Yankees in the 1955 World Series. I think that if Jackie Robinson did not have the courage to go into a professional sport when he was given the chance black people might still be fighting for that right today.

The other thing he did that had an impact on the world was he gave black people hope. He inspired more black kids to go out and try to become better athletes or better students so they could succeed in the world and maybe even change the world too. After he retired and other black people followed him into sports they did not get the