Jackie Robinson

Victory Season by Robert WeintraubColor Blind by Tom DunkelBranch Rickey by Jimmy BreslinSatch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert by Timothy M. GayOpening Day by Jonathan EigJackie Robinson: a biography by Arnold RampersadGreat TIme Coming by David Falkner

Jackie Robinson broke the major league baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. The Monday Movie Matinee will show “42,” the film about Robinson’s first year in the majors, on January 20 at 1 pm. Starring Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson and Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey, the film shows some of the obstacles Robinson faced from fans, teammates, and the public.

If you’d like to know more about Jackie Robinson and the early history of baseball, check out some of these titles.

The Victory Season: the end of World War II and the birth of baseball’s golden age by Robert Weintraub
Chronicles the triumphant 1946 baseball season and how the sport revitalized America after the second World War, centering on such hall-of-famers as Ted Williams, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, and Stan Musial.

Color Blind: the forgotten team that broke baseball’s color line by Tom Dunkel
During the Great Depression, in drought stricken Bismarck, North Dakota, one of the most improbable teams in the history of baseball was assembled by one of the sport's most unlikely champions. A decade before Jackie Robinson broke into the Major Leagues, car dealer Neil Churchill signed the best players he could find, regardless of race, and fielded an integrated squad that took on all comers in spectacular fashion.

Branch Rickey by Jimmy Breslin
A bestselling author remembers the man who integrated baseball. The idea of integrating baseball began as a dream in the mind of Branch Rickey. In 1947, as president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he defied racism on and off the field to bring Jackie Robinson into the major leagues, changing the sport and the nation forever.

Satch, Dizzy & Rapid Robert: the wild saga of interracial baseball before Jackie Robinson by Timothy M. Gay
Based on new research, this is the story of how Satchel Paige, Dizzy Dean, Bob Feller, and barnstorming introduced integrated baseball to America.

Opening Day: the story of Jackie Robinson’s first season by Jonathan Eig
Drawing on interviews with surviving players, sportswriters, and eyewitnesses, as well as newly discovered material from archives around the country, Jonathan Eig presents a fresh portrait of a ferocious competitor who embodied integration's promise and helped launch the modern civil-rights era.

Jackie Robinson: a biography by Arnold Rampersand
Details the life of the first African American to play baseball in the major-leagues, Jackie Robinson.

Great Time Coming: the life of Jackie Robinson, from baseball to Birmingham by David Falkner
Brings to life Jack Roosevelt Robinson, the man, a flesh-and-blood crusader whose humanity, passion, doubts, and fears are too often overlooked in the history-book treatment of his accomplishments.