07 LC 21
9543
House
Resolution 941
By:
Representatives Brooks of the
63rd,
Williams of the
165th,
Smyre of the
132nd,
Jones of the
44th,
Abrams of the
84th,
and others
A
RESOLUTION
Honoring
Mr. John Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson; and for other purposes.
WHEREAS,
John Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in a
sharecropper´s frame house near Cairo, Georgia; and
WHEREAS,
when Jackie was about two years old, Mrs. Robinson took the future Baseball Hall
of Fame player and his four brothers to Pasadena, California, to find work and a
place to live where some of her relatives had settled; and
WHEREAS,
Jackie Robinson excelled in athletics, winning honors in a number of sports,
including football, basketball, track, tennis, and baseball in high school,
during his years at Pasadena Junior College and at the University of California
at Los Angeles; and
WHEREAS,
he was drafted in 1942 for service in World War II, attended officer candidate
school, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1943; and
WHEREAS,
while he was in the Army at Fort Hood, Texas, he stood his ground in upholding
an antisegregation policy which had come down from Washington, withstanding
racially motivated court-martial proceedings, and winning an acquittal and an
honorable discharge as a first lieutenant in 1945; and
WHEREAS,
he married Rachel Isum and had three children; and
WHEREAS,
after a stint with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro National League, he
joined the Brooklyn Dodgers organization in 1946 as a farm team player for the
Montreal Royals; and
WHEREAS,
he became the first black man to play major league baseball in the United
States, playing first base for the Dodgers in 1947; and
WHEREAS,
60 years have now passed since Jackie Robinson broke down the color barrier in
major league baseball; and
WHEREAS,
he retired from baseball in 1957 after ten years with the Dodgers, which
included six National League pennants, six All-Star seasons, the 1955 World
Series Championship, and the reputation of being the best defensive second
baseman of his generation; and
WHEREAS,
he served in business and on numerous civic boards and commissions and was a
leading figure in the civil rights movement and a vigorous advocate of drug
education programs for youth; and
WHEREAS,
in 1962, he became the first black athlete elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame;
and
WHEREAS,
in 1972, he was honored at the opening of the World Series in a ceremony
commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of his first major league season;
and
WHEREAS,
he passed from this world two weeks later, leaving it a better and fairer place
for his having lived.
NOW,
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES that the members of
this body honor "Jackie" Robinson, whose athletic talents, perseverance, and
dignity surpassed the barriers of his time and won respect from all, on this
the sixtieth anniversary of his first major league season.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clerk of the House of Representatives is authorized
and directed to transmit an appropriate copy of this resolution to the public
and the press.