\n<\/p>\n
Photo of Jackie Robinson in his military uniform, during a visit to his Pasadena family home, c. 1943. [LOOK Magazine]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Before Jackie Robinson broke baseball\u2019s color line, before he starred in four sports at John Muir High School, before he became a name that would shape Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s sense of what was possible \u2014 he was a kid on Pepper Street, figuring things out like everyone else.
\nThat\u2019s the Robinson the Pasadena Public Library wants people to meet on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe focus on Jackie as a kid and teenager navigating school, sports, family expectations and difficult choices long before the world knew his name,\u201d said Tiffany Due\u00f1as, a library technician and co-presenter for the event.<\/p>\n
The program, titled \u201cJackie Robinson: Beyond Baseball,\u201d marks what would be Robinson\u2019s 107th birthday. He was born Jan. 31, 1919.<\/p>\n
But the celebration reaches further back \u2014 to 1853, when Robert Owens, a Black frontiersman, arrived in Pasadena.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s 66 years before Robinson was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cJackie\u2019s childhood fits into a much longer and deeper history of Black life in Pasadena,\u201d Due\u00f1as said. \u201cPasadena\u2019s Black history didn\u2019t begin with one person, and is still being learned today.\u201d<\/p>\n
History boards created by the Pasadena Historical Society in 1985 will be on display, highlighting early research into Pasadena\u2019s Black community before 1930. The boards feature Owens, Ray Bartlett, and both Robinson brothers \u2014 Jackie and Mack, who won an Olympic silver medal in 1936.<\/p>\n
The library\u2019s own collections \u2014 books, photographs, newspaper archives and local history materials \u2014 help ground Robinson\u2019s story in real places and lived experiences, Due\u00f1as said.<\/p>\n
The program uses a myth-versus-fact format to challenge assumptions about Robinson\u2019s path.<\/p>\n
One myth: that Robinson\u2019s success was only about baseball. The fact: at John Muir, he played football, basketball, track and tennis.<\/p>\n
Another myth: that he did everything on his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis family, especially his mother, siblings and the community around him helped shape who he became,\u201d Due\u00f1as said. \u201cAt the same time, he gave back to that community by standing up for fairness and pushing for change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Watching his brother Mack return from Olympic glory to limited opportunities at home taught Jackie something early.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat experience shaped how he understood fairness and opportunity long before baseball entered the picture,\u201d Due\u00f1as said.<\/p>\n
The notion that Robinson always dreamed of playing Major League Baseball is itself a myth. Dodgers historian Mark Langill, speaking at a 2019 South Pasadena program marking Robinson\u2019s 100th birthday, described the Branch Rickey\u2013Jackie Robinson combination as \u201cthe greatest accident the sport could ever hope for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Branch Rickey was the Brooklyn Dodgers\u2019 top baseball executive in the 1940s, and he was the one who decided to break Major League Baseball\u2019s color barrier by signing Jackie Robinson and bringing him to the Dodgers.<\/p>\n
Yes, Robinson grew up in a Pasadena \u201cfull of possibility, but also real barriers,\u201d Due\u00f1as said. \u201cAnd that tension still exists today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOne clear parallel is that opportunity is still shaped by access, support and community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Due\u00f1as is presenting alongside Pasadena History Librarian Young Phong at the Jackie Robinson Community Center, 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave. The center sits in the neighborhood where Robinson grew up and was dedicated in his name on June 2, 1974.<\/p>\n
Annual birthday commemorations at the center have become a tradition. In 2023, the center marked the 104th anniversary of Robinson\u2019s birth with a memorabilia display. In 2024, an exhibit on loan from the Pasadena Baseball Reliquary featured a Grays jersey, Negro League items, historical pictures and a model of Ebbets Field. Robinson family members attended that celebration.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s event will feature a self-guided tour of the Jackie Robinson baseball exhibition and birthday treats. The history boards won\u2019t be walked through during the program, but attendees are invited to explore them afterward.<\/p>\n
King once said Robinson made it possible for him to become the man he became. Due\u00f1as sees that influence as rooted in place \u2014 in Pepper Street, in the family who raised him, in the community that shaped his sense of fairness before the world knew his name.<\/p>\n
\u201cJackie learned early on that progress doesn\u2019t happen automatically,\u201d Due\u00f1as said. \u201cIt takes courage, support and choices. That lesson still feels relevant in Pasadena today.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the story they\u2019re slowing down to tell \u2014 Robinson before the headlines, still figuring things out, in the neighborhood where it all began.<\/p>\n
\u201cJackie Robinson: Beyond Baseball,\u201d Friday, Jan. 30, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jackie Robinson Community Center, 1020 N. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena. Program recommended for ages 9 and older. For information or to request a disability-related accommodation, call (626) 744-7300. Free.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Photo of Jackie Robinson in his military uniform, during a visit to his Pasadena family home, c. 1943. [LOOK Magazine] Before Jackie Robinson broke baseball\u2019s color line, before he starred in four sports at John Muir High School, before he became a name that would shape Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s sense of what was possible … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image_0-47.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18785,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18783\/revisions\/18785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"