Jack "Jackie" Roosevelt Robinson was born January 31, 1919 to Jerry and Mallie Robinson. Jerry was a very poor sharecropper, and brought in enough money to feed his five children. Mallie worked as a house keeper to a very wealthy plantation owner. Jerry, tired of being poor, started to have an affa

Jackie Robinson used his success and fame to be one of the most vocal members in the fight for African American rights. He became an active member and a spokesperson for the NAACP, (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). They awarded Robinson their Annual Merit Award in 1947 for being, "the first man to pick up a baseball bat and knock prejudice

On April 15, 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers started Jackie Robinson at second base, making him the first African American ever to play professional baseball. Over night, Jackie became a national figure, unfortunately most of this fame was due to the color of his skin. Some whites were outraged, others were glad, and African Americans hoped for his success. He started receiving hundreds of letters of hate mail, yet Robinson pretended like it did not exist. Instead, he went out day after day trying to quiet his critics with his blazing speed, and hard nose play. In 1947 won the first ever Rookie of the Year Award. At the end of his rookie season, he was one of the most respected men of any color in America. In fact, in a national pole, he was ranked ahead of President Truman, General Eisenhower, General MacArthur, Bob Hope, and Bing Crosby, ( Rampersad, 180).

African American rights. He would also get involved in some public debates with Malcolm X. Robinson frequently participated in protests throughout the eastern United States. Along with his son, Jackie Jr., Robinson held anti-drug block parties in some poor neighborhoods in New York, and tried to get kids involved in sports rather than drugs. Robinson also became a special assistant to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and together they worked to try to clean up some poor black neighborhoods and to set up organizations and funds for the advancement of black youth. In 1960, Robinson campaigned for Richard Nixon. Although he would later say that, "The Nixon I met in 1960 resembled nothing like the Nixo

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