Jackie Robinson: Strong Inside and Out (TFK Biographies Series) by Editors of TIME for Kids, Denise Lewis Patrick (With)

From the Publisher

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play baseball in the modern major leagues. That may not seem like a big deal today -- but in 1947 it was a very big deal. Until Jackie stepped up to the plate, African Americans couldn't play on most professional sports teams.

TIME For Kids® Biographies help make a connection between the lives of past heroes and the events of today. Because of Jackie's courage and perseverance, people of all colors now participate in America's favorite pastime. Jackie worked hard and proved to the world that it's your character and talent -- not the color of your skin -- that really matters.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0060576006
  
• ISBN-13: 9780060576004
• Format: Paperback, 48pp
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Pub. Date: January 2005
• Edition Description: Ages 7-9
• Sales Rank: 22,663
• Age Range: 7 to 9
• Series: Time For Kids

• Table of Contents
• Read a Sample Chapter

Table of Contents

Read a Sample Chapter

Chapter One

Hero On the Field

Jackie Robinson stepped onto the field in his new Brooklyn Dodgers baseball uniform. He was nervous. The crowd roared. Cameras flashed. Reporters scribbled on their notepads. It was 1947. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was the first African American to play baseball for a modern major-league team.

He was big news because he was breaking rules. Back in the 1940s, laws in many states told black people where they could live, work, or even eat. The sports world was also segregated. Baseball players who happened to be African American had to play in a league of their own, separate from white players. Jackie Robinson was about to change all of that. The Brooklyn Dodgers' owner, Branch Rickey, had warned Jackie of what could happen. Some fans would be angry. Ballplayers might try to hurt him. Some teams might refuse to compete against a team with a black man. Jackie would have to hold his head up and play the best ball he ever had.

Many people asked that day, "Can he do it? Can he take the hard times and not fight back?"

Jackie Robinson's answer to the world was yes! When he walked onto Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, on April 15, 1947, he knew he was ready to handle anything.