John Roosevelt (Jackie) Robinson

www.pbs.org

My hero is Jackie Robinson because he had great courage and he broke the color barrier for baseball. He worked hard for what he believed in. That's what I liked about him. This helped to change baseball and allowed blacks and whites to play on the same team.

Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919. He was the youngest of five siblings. Jackie’s family was very poor so Jackie had to get a job. He delivered newspapers and sold hot dogs.

Jackie Robinson went to college at UCLA. He was the first person to win four awards for four different sports. Jackie’s mom could not afford to keep Jackie in school so Jackie got a job. Jackie played professional football.

But he did not play for long. He quit football to join the Army. After Jackie got out of the Army he joined the American Negro League for baseball. He played for the Kansas City Monarchs. After a while people started to notice how great of an athlete Jackie was and so did Branch Rickey, the president of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Branch Ricky thought that it was about time that a black man got to play in the major leagues. In the end Jackie Robinson Played for the Dodgers. People were very mean to Jackie and showered him with racial slurs. Other players slid into Jackie and spiked his legs and made him bleed but he managed to keep his temper. Jackie had a lot of courage because he spoke his mind on the rights of blacks. Not many people liked him but that did not stop him from doing what he did best.