The daughter of famous baseball player and civil rights leader Jackie Robinson will conduct a reading from her new book, Jackie’s Nine, at the University of Texas at Dallas on May 17 at 10 a.m.
The McDermott Library Auditorium (MC 2.410) is serving as host of the free event that is open to the public.
The book (published by Scholastic: May 2001) is a vehicle to expand the message of the Breaking Barriers, In Sports, In Life mentoring program that was created by Sharon Robinson. Ms. Robinson is Director of Educational Programming for Major league Baseball. The tour is part of a joint project of the American Library Association and Major League Baseball for the Campaign for America’s Libraries.
Jackie’s Nine is an inspirational anthology that illustrates the values that guided Jackie Robinson, as he became the first black player to break into the major leagues. Sharon Robinson explores her father’s values – courage, justice, teamwork, citizenship, determination, integrity, persistence, commitment and excellence.
The book is geared toward middle school-aged students and above. After the reading, Sharon Robinson will hold a question and answer session, then sign copies of the book.
Sharon Robinson has taught at Yale, Columbia, Howard and Georgetown universities. She also served as director of the PUSH for Excellence Program and as a fundraiser for the United Negro College Fund and A Better Cause.
The McDermott Library stop is the midway point of Ms. Robinson’s 21-city tour. She will arrive in Dallas from Detroit, and then proceed to Houston.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls approximately 6,500 undergraduate and 4,500 graduate students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs.