I am Jackie Robinson by Brad Meltzer, illust. C.Eliopoulos | Read Aloud for Kids | The Reading Booth

[Music] i am jackie robinson by brad meltzer illustrated by christopher elliopoulos i am jackie robinson sometimes it's hard to be brave my mother was brave and she liked brave people when i was born the youngest of five kids she even named me after someone brave his middle name will be roosevelt jack roosevelt robinson why roosevelt after president teddy roosevelt he fought to make sure black people were treated the same as everyone else that's a lot for little jackie to live up to you'll see i'm not worried but having a brave name doesn't make you a brave person in fact as a kid i didn't like sleeping alone i used to sleep in my mom's bed even when she tried to bribe me i wouldn't leave i'll give you a quarter to go sleep in your room not a chance it's better here one of my scariest moments came when i was eight years old i was outside and a girl from across the street called me a terrible name i was so mad i yelled a name right back at her her father came running immediately he didn't like it that a black boy was standing up to his white daughter we were the only black family on our block what'd you call her she started it i don't remember who threw the first rock but the fight was on me versus her dad get him dad i have a good arm but no one wins in a rock fight eventually the girl's mother came out and broke it up like i said the world can be a scary place but even as a kid there was one thing that always made me happy sports and winning at sports okay that's two things i loved playing everything baseball football basketball soccer marbles even dodgeball all the kids would get in a circle white black hispanic asian we all played together the rules were simple if the ball hit you you were out deduct jump leap and of course throw and throw and throw by the time i was done i'd be the last one standing are they mad that i won don't know fall down maybe they won't notice but the truth was they weren't mad at me for winning they appreciated the skill it took those childhood games were some of the only times i wasn't judged by the color of my skin hooray jackie how's he doing and what's the b on his hat stand for you'll see still that didn't make all of my problems go away at the local public pool in brookside park you could only go swimming if you were white if your skin was black they locked you out don't they know how hot it is out here trust me they know when people complained they gave us one day each week wednesday every wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m they'd open the pool to anybody black mexican or asian don't they know how mean that is trust me they know oh come on he even swims in his hat maybe the b is for buoyant so how do you win when you feel like you're fighting the entire world my mother who worked as a maid showed me the answer back then we were so poor we sometimes ate only two meals a day to help us out every saturday night the local bakery would let us take their leftovers and the milkman back when milk was delivered to your house would give us whatever extra he had it's a feast look at all this food it's not just for us what do you mean we weren't the only ones struggling for money my mom took the extra food and shared it with all our neighbors that's right she even shared it with the angry guy who threw rocks at me would you like some extra bread wow thanks that's very kind of you hi mali jackie's mom nice to meet you molly that's how we got to be friends with everyone in the neighborhood it was one of my mom's best lessons when you do something good it brings out the good in others plus the more our neighbors got to know us the more they realized just how much black and white people were alike i learned a similar lesson from a local mechanic named carl anderson he saw the group of boys i used to hang out with we called ourselves the pepper street gang we were a bunch of poor kids for fun we'd throw dirt clods at cars and swipe golf balls from the local course when he saw what we were doing mr anderson took me aside he didn't lose his temper calm as could be he told me jackie i know why you're following the crowd you're afraid they'll think you're different or a chicken but it doesn't take guts to follow the crowd courage comes from being willing to be different what mr anderson said that day it got me with the help of my pastor i stopped hanging out with the gang from there i threw myself even deeper into my favorite activity sports and winning at sports especially baseball as a teenager i could run so fast a local reporter noticed that in nearly every game i stole second third and home at least once that is instilling its grand larceny man this guy can write you were just on first base how'd you get so fast maybe the b is for blastoff in college i became the first ucla student ever to letter in four sports in the same season baseball and football and basketball and track they said i was one of the best football players in the country two seasons in a row i scored the most points of any player in the league i won the ncaa title that year only one american jumped farther than me but the same problems kept coming back when the college newspaper wrote a nice article about me one of my own white teammates purposely smashed into my leg trying to injure me he was mad that the article said something nice about a black person ah my leg don't they know we're on the same team trust me they know by the time i got out of the army it still didn't matter that i was one of the best athletes in the country if you wanted to play professional sports you had to be white sorry son your kind doesn't belong here back then if you were the world champs it meant you were the white champs in all of major league baseball not a single team had even one black player oh and did i mention that if you were on a black team the pay was worse the food was worse and sometimes the only place to sleep was on the bus gross is this food or goo you don't want to know but that was all about to change thanks to a man named branch ricky ricky was the president of the brooklyn dodgers one of the most popular baseball teams ever i have an idea with so many players fighting in world war ii ricky had a plan for filling his team the dodgers will secretly look at black players are you nuts people will stop rooting for us i don't care it's time to do what's right after searching all across the united states and the world branch ricky found me i'm jackie robinson nice to meet you nice to meet you too i think you can play in the major leagues how do you feel about that mr ricky told me that he knew i was a good ball player but he wanted to know whether i had the guts he warned me that many white people would be mad to see a black player there's no one on our side no owners no umpires loads of players and spectators will yell at you pitchers will throw baseballs at your head but no matter what they do if you get angry it'll look like it can't handle it can you handle it on april 18 1946 at 27 years old i was given my shot at roosevelt stadium in jersey city new jersey i played my first official game for the montreal royals the brooklyn dodgers farm team you better believe i was terrified i didn't want to let people down then at 3 04 p.m in my first at-bat i was thrown out at first you're out thousands of black spectators had come to see what i could do thousands of white people were there too convinced that a black player couldn't possibly be as good as a white one it was up to me to prove them wrong the next time i came up was in the third inning there were two men on base the pitcher decided on a fastball i can still see it coming chest high down the middle but this time when the ball finally landed 340 feet away in the left field stands no one could say that a black man can't play as well as a white man some called it a home run others called it history that afternoon in five at bats i hit and got on base four times i stole second twice and i scored four runs hooray jackie how's he do it when he puts that b hat back on it's gonna be for boom when the game was done i couldn't get to the locker room because i was so mobbed by fans black white young old even the folks rooting for the other team they were cheering for me still that didn't mean it was easy when i started playing for the brooklyn dodgers lots of players didn't want me there pitchers threw fastballs at my head runners stepped on me with their cleats catchers even spit on my shoes i know you saw that and they weren't just coming after me they told me that if i kept playing they'd hurt my son was i mad yes was i scared yes but i never let it stop me i told you the b is for boon the b is for brooklyn genius game after game i kept playing knowing i wasn't just playing for myself each time more and more people black and white were cheering in the stands fans wore i'm for jackie buttons and slowly eventually we were all playing together black white asian hispanic baseball opened up to everyone it was just like those childhood games of dodgeball through the simple game of baseball the country saw a new possibility a new option all they needed was for someone to go first you see his stats stole home 19 times was the national league ndp in 1949 when he led in hitting and steals the dodgers won six pennants in his ten seasons he was one of the few people inducted into the hall of fame in the very first year he was eligible in life people tried to scare me they wanted to stop me they wanted to make me go away why because i was different each time i wanted to fight back but for real change to come you need to lead by example being a leader takes bravery but remember this no one is born brave no matter how big or small you are there will always be things that scare you it's okay to be afraid just don't let it stop you remember that park where they wouldn't let him swim now it's called robinson park today no one in baseball can wear the number 42 but once a year every player on every team wears it it's the one day where everyone looks the same there is real power in each and every one of us use that power to do what's right use that power for a cause that you believe in and most of all use that power to lead and help others you know instead of brooklyn you could have told people the b was for brave just like my middle name i am jackie robinson i will always lead the way and i hope you will too when others see your example they'll stand with you it's the only way the world ever gets changed together a life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives jackie robinson the end thank you for watching enjoyed this read-aloud book click like and subscribe to the reading booth

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Keywords: read aloud, elementary books, at home reading, listen to books, reading booth, story time, reading time, children's reading, student reading, library books, kid books, popular kid books, picture books, picture books for kids, Reading Workshop, Reader's Workshop, Shared Reading, Read Along, bedtime stories, bedtime read aloud, jackie robinson, first black baseball player, Brad Meltzer, Chris Eliopoulos, Ordinary people change the world, I am books, I am Jackie Robinson

Id: 822bGnrVpTY

Length: 18min 25sec (1105 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 15 2020