Jackie Robinson Museum Opens In New York City
After 14 years of planning, the Jackie Robinson museum has officially opened in New York City.
According to the Associated Press, Robinson’s widow, 100-year-old Rachel Robinson, was in attendance and cut a ribbon to celebrate the opening. Her 72-year-old daughter, Sharon and 70-year-old son David were also in attendance.
David Robinson said to the crowd, “The issues in baseball, the issues that Jackie Robinson challenged in 1947, they’re still with us. The signs of white only have been taken down, but the complexity of equal opportunity still exists.”
At a cost of $38 million, the museum includes 4,500 artifacts including Robinson’s 1946 minor league contract for $600 a month and his 1947 rookie contract for a $5,000 salary.
Tennis legend Billie Jean King, director Spike Lee and New York City Mayor Eric Adams were at the opening ceremony.
In 1945 Jackie Robinson made history when he signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers to become the first Black man to play for a Major League team. The Georgia native was an athletic quadruple threat, and as a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, he lettered in baseball, football, basketball and track. After leaving the Army as a lieutenant, he signed with the Montreal Royals of the International League in 1946.
Although he was reportedly "thrilled" to be in the majors, it wasn't an easy transition. Robinson had to deal with opposition from major league owners, their players and even members of his own team. Among the many atrocities he faced was an incident during which the Philadelphia team bombarded him with racial slurs and pantomimed shooting at him.
Ironically, the racist attacks helped the white Dodgers form a bond with Robinson. In 1947, Robinson was named the second most admirable American, coming in second to crooner/actor Bing Crosby. He also won the Baseball Writers' Association of America's first Rookie of the Year Award.
After sports, Robinson forged a career in business and politics. He became the first Black television analyst in Major League Baseball and the first Black vice-president of a major American corporation. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem.
The Jackie Robinson Museum opens to the public on Sept. 5.
