Jackie Robinson

Robinson, the grandson of a slave, was born on a plantation shack in Cairo, Georgia. He was the youngest of five children born to Mallie and Jerry Robinson. Just months after Robinson's birth, his father, a sharecropper, ran off with a neighbor's wife, and the plantation owner ordered the Robinsons off the land. Seeking a better life for her children, Mallie Robinson moved the family to California, where her brother, Burton McGriff, lived.

Mallie Robinson found work washing and ironing and by 1923 had purchased a house in Pasadena, on Pepper Street. As the only black family on the street, the Robinson children were singled out as troublemakers. Neighbors filed false reports with the police claiming the boys were throwing rocks and vandalizing the area. Soon, the neighborhood united to buy them out. However, when some key wealthy families refused to support the plan, instead favoring the Robinsons' right to live there, the rest of the neighbors gave up, and the family stayed.

As he grew up amid poverty and racial prejudice, Robinson learned he could gain acceptance with his athleticism. In grammar school, kids would share their lunches with Robinson if he agreed to join their team. Robinson found that at least on the playing field, white students counted him as their equal.

During his childhood, Robinson befriended an interracial group called the Pepper Street Gang, which consisted of poor black, Japanese, Mexican, and caucasian boys. They roamed the streets challenging more affluent, mostly white boys to football matches, or other sports, betting modest amounts of money they'd win. Robinson sharpened his skills on the streets, then put them to use at John Muir Technical High, where he starred on the baseball, football, basketball, and track teams.