Outliers Research Paper

When Jackie Robinson was a kid, he lived a hard life with a family of seven. It was his older brother Matthew that inspired Jackie to play baseball.

“Jackie Robinson was born on the thirty first day of January in 1919”. (biography.com) He was born to a family of sharecroppers in the town of Cairo Georgia, but Jackie grew up in Pasadena California. (Jackie Robinson official website) Jackie grew up being raised by only his mother and his older siblings helped out as well. He had four siblings, three older brothers and one sister. (Britannica encyclopedia) Jackie was the youngest of five kids and they all helped out each other in school, sports, and chores. The Robinson family was the only African American family on their block, but the bias acts of the white people surrounding them didn’t hurt them, but prepared them for their future. (Jackie Robinson official website) Jackie’s older brother Matthew gave him his inspiration to take on sports just as he did. He has always had a huge love for sports in his childhood years. (Jackie Robinson book pg: 4)

By the time he got into seventh grade he was always competing for the top student with the highest GPA. He always kept in touch with his family in Boston, and his sister Ella visited him for a while. He really liked the fact that she was a strong woman, and proud of her race. He ended up staying with her in Boston that whole summer.

To begin, on January 30th, 1919 Jackie Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia. His parents were Mallie Robinson and Jerry Robinson. He was the youngest of 5 children. His siblings were Edgar, Frank, Mack, and Willa Mae. After Jackie was born His father left home. Mallie Robinson and the kids had to move to California when Jackie was young. It took over a week on the train ride to California. Jackie’s family was the only black family on their tree lined block in Pasadena. Jackie liked to watch his brother Mack play baseball in the sandlot. One day there wasn’t enough players on a team,

Growing up Jackie Robinson was raised by a single mother in relative poverty. In high school, he was an excellent athlete playing four sports: football, basketball, track, and baseball. In 1938, Robinson was chosen as the region’s Most Valuable Player in baseball. Though he grew up in harder conditions than most, he didn't use that as an excuse. His situation as a child didn’t hold him back, but rather motivated him to be exceptional in all he did. His older brother inspired him to pursue his talent and love for athletics. Continuing his education, Robinson, attended the University of California, Los Angeles. There he was the first to win four varsity letters. Right before graduation he was forced to leave UCLA due

He also had two siblings. His brother John and sister Florence. They are both younger than him by a few years.(SABR) Ty was a very smart kid, but once he started playing baseball his interest in education kinda died. His father wanted him to go to college and either study medicine or law.

First, he had to gain respect for his athletics. He decided to become a great baseball player. When he was a boy, he started out playing four sports, football, basketball, track and baseball. His older brother, Matthew Robinson, was a track star that inspired him to become an elite athlete. He followed in his brother’s footsteps and was the first athlete at UCLA to earn a varsity letter in four unrelated sports. He was forced to leave in the middle of his senior year because of financial reasons. After this, he went to Hawaii to play for a semi-professional football team. The beginning of WWII ended his season there. (A&E Corporation) Near, this time he was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers and played for their farm team, the

“...Successes are far more likely to come from wealthier families.” This quote from Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell goes hand in hand with another controversial quote in the same book. “Who we are cannot be separated from where we’re from.” Every human comes from some background, we all have parents and a birth-town, as well as an income we grew up living off of. Yet do these background have a significant influence on the course of our lives?

In 1919, he was born into a family with 4 other kids. His dad left when he was only six months old. His older brother was a very good athlete. His brother won a silver medal in the Olympics in 1936. While he was in school, he got named to the All American football team, but he later had to leave school for money problems. In 1944, Jackie was in the military as a second lieutenant, and he would not go to the back of the military bus. He then got honorably discharged. Later in 1946, he got married and had three children.

He was apart of the Merchant Marines and U.S Army. His favorite memory of being in the service was meeting his wife, Helen. They dated a year and a half before getting married.

His mother came from a prominent family from Norfolk, Virginia where they owned a plantation. They moved around constantly due to the fact that his father, Arthur MacArthur Jr., was in the army, but MacArthur fought in several wars such as the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. Before Douglas MacArthur was even born, MacArthur Jr., his father, was a general in the Union Army and a federal judge appointed by President Grant. His father and his decorated career as a high-ranking officer in the military had a strong impact and influence on his life and choices, especially the ones that led to him following in his father’s footsteps. “All his life he would seek to be a man-at arms- in whom his father could have exulted” (Manchester, 64)

He was the son of an insurance agent who died while he was in high school, and an alcoholic mother, who was left penniless as a result . This left him feeling like he was an outsider. His friends had privilege, but he was left living on the wrong side of the tracks. He was known for being a troublemaker and would even not walk in his high school graduation because he was stuck in jail, while his privileged friends were able to get out due to their rich parents. These events would all leave a lasting imprint on him throughout his life.

He was enlisted in the Navy; which means that he is one of the people who joined

He was quite a rebel back in the day, which isn't very surprising. He had dreams of becoming a professional baseball player, but got caught and arrested for credit card fraud and lost his scholarship offer.

He lived a steady life until his father died when he was 6. When this happened he had to take care of his two younger siblings. Over the years of raising his siblings and managing all of these jobs, it taught him many character traits that would be important later in life. Such as responsibility, compassion and commitment. It taught him these character traits because he had to run multiple jobs every day and manage 2 children.