A look into the private life of Jackie Robinson: Family, faith, and more

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. On April 15, 1947, Robinson started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's racial barrier.

Through his temperament, peaceful strategy and brilliance, Jackie Robinson shook the prevailing basis of segregation that had characterized many aspects of American culture at the time. In honor of his achievements on and off the field, Robinson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom after his passing on Oct. 24, 1972.

"Jackie Robinson holding his 1949 Most Valuable Player award. He leads the National League with a .342 batting average and the majors with 37 steals. He also finishes second in baseball in hits (203) and fifth in RBIs (124)" - Baseball In Pics

Robinson was born on Jan. 31, 1919, in a struggling community and was the youngest of five siblings. His family practiced sharecropping. After his father abandoned his family, the family relocated to Pasadena, California. He was a born athlete, as he played tennis and basketball during his high school days. After graduating from junior college, he joined UCLA.

Jackie competed in a variety of sports at UCLA, but excelled in the long jump and became a seasoned member of their college football team. Robinson met his future wife, Rachel Isum, a UCLA freshman who was aware of Jackie's junior college athletic career, during his final year of school.

Jackie Robinson had a profound impact on America

In his third year at UCLA, Jackie Robinson dropped out to aid his mother with the family's needs. He enlisted in the American Army in 1942 and completed officer candidate school before being promoted to second lieutenant in 1943. His playing days were cut short after the Japanese army bombed Pearl Harbor.

After Robinson left the army, Rickey, the then-GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers, saw Jackie play for the Kansas Monarchs. Rickey hired Robinson on October 23, 1945, to play for the Montreal Royals of the International League, a Dodger feeder team, and the rest is history.

After retiring from the game in 1957, Jackie kept working for the civil rights of the African-American community. Jackie’s wife Rachel pursued a career in nursing post his retirement and the couple reared three kids, David Robinson, Sharon Robinson, and Jackie Robinson Jr.

After retirement, he suffered from diabetes and some heart ailments, which ultimately became the root cause of his demise on October 24, 1972. But the world remembered the baseball phenom for his monumental work both on and off the field for inclusion and breaking the racial divide in the sport and the country.

His widow set up the Jackie Robinson Foundation to honor his life’s work for the civil rights movement and continue to bring down the racial divide even today. Jackie will be remembered as an incredible activist who played in the dirt, endured many slurs and biases as a result of his skin color, and still stood firm in his beliefs and values in life.