American professor, registered nurse, and the widow of baseball player Jackie Robinson. Rachel Isum and Robinson married on 10 February 1946, the year before he broke into the big leagues. Their son Jackie Robinson, Jr. (1946–1971) was born in November 1946. The Robinsons would later have a daughter, Sharon, born 1950, and another son, David, born 1952.
After Jackie Robinson’s retirement from baseball following the 1956 season, Rachel Robinson obtained a master’s degree in psychiatric nursing from New York University. She worked as a researcher and clinician at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Department of Social and Community Psychiatry, a position she held for five years. She then became an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Nursing and later the Director of Nursing at the Connecticut Mental Health Center.
In 1972, she incorporated the Jackie Robinson Development Corporation, a real estate development company specializing in low- to moderate-income housing, and served as president for ten years. In 1973, she founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a not-for-profit organization providing educational and leadership opportunities for minority students. The Foundation has provided support for over 1,000 minority students and has maintained a 97% graduation rate among its scholars.
In 1996, she coauthored Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Portrait with Lee Daniels, published by Abrams Publishing Company.
In 2009, she received the UCLA Medal from Chancellor Gene Block for her lifetime achievements. The UCLA Medal is the university’s highest honor.
In 2017, Rachel Robinson received the Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame. With this award, Rachel and Jackie Robinson became the first married couple to reside alongside each other in Major league Baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Robinson was portrayed by Ruby Dee in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story and by Nicole Beharie in the 2013 film 42.
Link to Wikipedia biography