Jackie Robinson

By: Adam Habtemariam

hen I think of an African-American who has inspired greatness in everyone I

think of Martin Luther King Jr, Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela these are just a
few. What comes to my mind when I think of an African- American who has
inspired me is Jackie Robinson he is a man who broke barriers not just for
baseball but all sports so he created multiple opportunities. He faced adversity in situations all
the time and overcame these he became a leader on and off the field and revolutionized the
game. He is a true hero and paved the way for many African-American athletes such as Hank
Aaron, Satchel Paige, and Willie Mays who were just a few. He lived by nine principles Courage,
determination, teamwork, persistence, integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment, and excellence.

Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo Georgia on

January 31st, 1919 to a family of sharecroppers.
When his father left the family in 1920 his mom
moved him and his siblings to Pasadena,
California his mom worked a number of odd
jobs to support the family. In 1935 Jackie started
to attend John Muir High School his brother
Mack an accomplished athlete and silver
medalist in the 1936 Olympics and his brother
Frank inspired him to pursue his interests in
sports. Jackie played multiple sports at varsity
level and strived in them after Muir though he
attend Pasadena Junior College and continued
his athletics he graduated from PJC in spring of
1939 to attend UCLA there he was one of 4 black players on the UCLA Bruins football team he
also won the 1940 Mens Track and Field world championships surprisingly though baseball was
his worst sport. In 1942 Jackie Robinson was drafted into the U.S Army where he had struggles
because of racial tension. In early 1945 he joined the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro
Leagues there he showed his skills and MLB teams took notice in the mid- 1940s Branch Rickey
sent scouts to scout the Monarchs and eventually signed Robinson there he played for their
minor-league team for a while and then on April 15th 19 he broke the Baseball color Barrier.
Jackie Robinson ended having a successful career a 6-time all-star, NL MVP, MLB Rookie of the
Year, was on the MLB all-century team and has his number 42 retired he was also inducted to the
Hall Of Fame. He passed away on October 24th, 1972 in Stanford Connecticut.

To start off, I dont have all these qualities but I can work on them so now lets talk about how
we are similar. One of Jackie Robinsons traits were excellence and in sport that was a white
mans game for a long time achieving excellence was a difficult thing to do especially in a whitemans game but he succeeded, and I also strive for excellence in my everyday life whether its
school or outside of it I want to be the best but the way I achieve the goals are less harder
compared to Robinsons. Jackie Robinson also had integrity he had strong moral principles he
knew what was right and carried that out I do the same thing for example Branch Rickey told
him not retaliate against all these racist slurs thrown to him by Other baseball players and when
they said this awful stuff at him he did retaliate he did what was right and ignore this. I believe in
what I think is right and stand by it I dont let any unnecessary things influence me or the wrong
people influence me. A couple of traits I strive to acquire are Courage, and Persistence Jackie
Robinson was tortured in a sport that hated him but he kept on fighting and ended up becoming a
legend he showed courage when threats were made to him and his family but he wasnt scared
just kept playing the game.

In conclusion, this is why I chose Jackie Robinson as an African-American who inspired me he

was a man of character. He always did what was right and stayed by his values he is a true Hero
Black, White, and Hispanic he broke barriers and revolutionized baseball and America.

Shawn Schoenbachler

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson
http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/jackie
s-nine-jackie-robinsons-values-live-booktalk

http://www.bing.com/images/search?
q=jackie+robinson&FORM=HDRSC2#view=det
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