Hometown hero Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was born in 1919, in Cairo, Ga. and came to Pasadena with his family in 1920. They were the only black family on Pepper Street, and battled racism during their time there.
Robinson graduated from John Muir High School and then UCLA, where he became the school’s first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football, and track.
Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947.
“He is a reminder that our city still has to make significant progress as it relates to treating people fairly,” said Councilman John Kennedy on Thursday.
“Given the fact that we’ve made so much progress, it’s kind of surprising that there’s still more progress to be made, particularly as it relates to figuring out how to solve the housing crisis here in Pasadena, in the country and particularly California,” Kennedy said.
According to Kennedy, Robinson was so traumatized by the racism in Pasadena that he made a vow never to come back.
On January 25, 1938, Jackie was arrested for voicing his disagreement on the arrest of a black friend by the police at Pasadena Junior College ?one of the first instances wherein he had to bear the brunt of racial hatred. Robinson received a two-year suspended sentence.
Robinson also helped lead the fight to desegregate the swimming pool at Brookside Park.
His brother Edgar was beaten up by the police while selling chairs on the Rose Parade route.
“Pasadena has changed significantly,” Kennedy said. “There are now two African Americans on the city council. We’ve had a non-elected African American mayor on several occasions. The schools are integrated, but have significant challenges. So as we look at Jackie Robinson, we look at a man that broke the color barrier in baseball and helped this country move forward, totally dedicated to his country, served in the military [fighting] Nazi Germany.”
“What’s particularly hurtful now, we have leaders in this country that have made it easier to have fascist views and to do harm to others on the basis of ethnicity and race and color.”
Robinson played 10 seasons of Major League Baseball from 1947 to 1956, all of them for the Dodgers. During his career, the Dodgers played in six World Series. Robinson played in six All-Star Games. In 1999, he was posthumously named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.
Robinson died on October 24, 1972. He was 53 years old.
On April 15, 1997, Robinson’s jersey number, 42, was retired throughout Major League Baseball, the first time any jersey number had been retired throughout one of the four major American sports leagues.
In Pasadena, Jackie is remembered with his brother Mack in a memorial across from Pasadena City Hall.
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