Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism.

“On April 15, 1947, my father, Jack Roosevelt Robinson, stepped out of the Brooklyn Dodgers dugout, crossed first base, and assumed his position as first baseman. He paused, hands resting on bent knees, toes pointed in, then stood, lifted his cap, and saluted the cheering fans.”

The book’s opening sentences create a vivid image of Jackie Robinson and establish the relationship between Jackie and Sharon. This scene foreshadows a moment in Chapter 9 in which Sharon describes her son reenacting Jackie’s first movements as a Dodger.

“[O]ur parents taught us not to worship these honors. They said we should measure our lives by the impact we had on other people’s lives […] I hope that through my father’s example you will understand why making a promise and keeping it is so important.”

Sharon explains the goal of her biography. She wants to show young readers that Jackie’s impact on other people takes precedence over his baseball accomplishments. By reading about Jackie’s selfless commitment to change, she hopes that her audience will make a similar “promise.”

“As freedmen and women, some former slaves attended school for the first time, farmed in a system called sharecropping, voted, and held local, state, and federal offices. But the new freedoms granted to African Americans were unacceptable to many southern whites who were used to being in control.”

The theme of Change Through Persistence applies to the general history of race in America: Black people constantly experienced small gains and significant setbacks. After the Civil War, Black people acquired “new freedoms,” yet the white people in the South impeded their progress.