Jackie Robinson
New York, Kings County, New York
Marker Inscription
Jackie Robinson (Jack Roosevelt Robinson) 1919-1972 The first African-American major league baseball player lived here from 1947 to 1949. As an infielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers, he was voted Rookie of the Year (1947) and Most Valuable Player (1949), won the National League Batting Title (1949) and led the Dodgers to the N.L. pennant in 1947, 1949, 1952 and 1953.
Erected by Historic Landmarks Preservation Center
The Story
Jackie Robinson lived at this Brooklyn address from 1947 to 1949, the very years he broke Major League Baseball's color barrier as an infielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1947 and Most Valuable Player in 1949, won the National League batting title, and led the Dodgers to the pennant in 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953.
Why it matters
Robinson's arrival integrated the national pastime and became one of the opening victories of the modern civil rights movement, carried out under enormous public pressure.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
After World War II, America entered a period of enormous confidence and change — new prosperity, new suburbs, and a new national spotlight on the gap between the country's ideals and its everyday injustices. Segregation was still the law and the custom across much of the nation, including in its most cherished institutions.
Baseball was chief among them. It called itself the national pastime, yet its major leagues had been closed to Black players for decades, forcing generations of extraordinary athletes into the separate Negro Leagues. The color line in baseball was one of the most visible walls of segregation in American public life.
Brooklyn in the late 1940s was the stage where that wall was breached. The borough's Dodgers were about to do something no major-league team had done in the modern era, and the address on this marker was, for the crucial first years, the home of the man who did it.
People & events
Jack Roosevelt Robinson — Jackie Robinson, who lived from 1919 to 1972 — lived at this Brooklyn address from 1947 to 1949. Those dates are not incidental; they are exactly the years he broke Major League Baseball's color barrier as an infielder for the Brooklyn Dodgers and established himself as one of the finest players in the game.
The on-field record from those years is remarkable on its own terms. He was voted Rookie of the Year in 1947, named the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1949, and won the league batting title that same season. He was, plainly, one of the best players in baseball — not a symbolic addition, but a star.
And he did it while leading. The marker credits him with helping carry the Dodgers to National League pennants in 1947, 1949, 1952, and 1953. During these same years he absorbed relentless hostility — from opponents, from crowds, from parts of his own sport — and answered it with excellence. That he could perform at this level under that pressure is central to why his name endures.
Its place in the American story
Robinson's arrival integrated the national pastime, and because baseball meant so much to so many Americans, the effect reached far beyond the field. His success became one of the opening victories of the modern civil rights movement — concrete, public proof, watched by millions, that the walls of segregation could be broken and that the case for them could not survive contact with the facts.
He carried an almost impossible burden: to be excellent and dignified under sustained abuse, knowing that every failure would be used against those who would follow him. That he not only endured it but excelled changed minds in a way speeches could not, and it opened the door for the players who came after.
His significance is now woven into the game's own memory. Robinson is honored across baseball as the man who changed it, and his story is taught as a landmark not just in sports but in the larger American struggle for equality. A modest Brooklyn home sheltered a figure of genuine national consequence.
If you visit
This is a residential address, so treat it with the quiet respect a neighborhood deserves. Read the marker and let the dates sink in — 1947 to 1949 — and recognize that you're standing where Robinson lived during the very seasons that changed the country's game.
Think about the daily reality behind the plaque: an athlete performing at the highest level while facing pressure most of us can barely imagine, then coming home to this street each night. The ordinariness of the setting is part of what makes it moving.
For anyone building a Brooklyn history or baseball itinerary, this is an essential stop. It pairs naturally with the borough's other landmarks of the era, and it rewards a moment of stillness. Come here knowing what he carried, and a quiet block becomes a place where the national pastime — and the nation — began to change.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Small Editions4.8 mi away · 60 Sackett Street, Brooklyn, NY
- Basin Gallery & Studios4.9 mi away
- Golden Anvil4.9 mi away · 102 Dikeman Street
- Realty Collective4.9 mi away
- Kentler International Drawing Space4.9 mi away
- Lofty Art Gallery4.9 mi away
Attractions
- Brooklyn Heights Promenade5.0 mi away
- Brooklyn Heights Promenade5.0 mi away
- Street Car5.1 mi away
- Kayak Brooklyn5.1 mi away
- Brooklyn Flea5.2 mi away
- Governor's Island Kayaking5.4 mi away · Pier 101, New York, NY
Food & drink
- Ellis Island Cafe6.8 mi away
- Crown Cafe6.9 mi away · Liberty Island, New York, NY
- Bluestone Lane7.2 mi away
- Yaso7.2 mi away · 30 Hudson Street, Jersey City, NJ
- Maman7.2 mi away
- Krispy Pizza7.2 mi away · 33 Hudson Street, Jersey City, NJ
Places to stay
- Casa Cipriani New York5.7 mi away · 10 South Street, New York, NY
- Hyatt Centric5.8 mi away · 75 Wall Street, New York, NY
- Holiday Inn Express5.8 mi away · 126 Water Street, New York, NY
- Hotel Indigo5.8 mi away · 120 Water Street, New York, NY
- The Wall Street Hotel5.8 mi away · 88 Wall Street, New York, NY
- Wall Street Inn5.8 mi away · 9 South William Street, New York, NY
Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Jackie Robinson
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jackie Robinson & Pee Wee Reese Monument
New York, NY
This monument stands near the Brooklyn ballpark that keeps the borough's Dodgers legacy alive, honoring one of the most powerful moments in American sports. In 1947 Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color barrier as a Brooklyn Dodger, enduring relentless abuse from crowds and opposing players. The monument depicts his teammate and team captain, Pee Wee Reese, a white Southerner, stepping over to stand beside him in a public gesture of solidarity that came to symbolize acceptance and courage. The bronze captures Reese's arm around Robinson's shoulder — an image of two teammates refusing to be divided.
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Roy Wilkins, one of the most influential civil rights leaders of the 20th century, lived in this Queens home from 1952 until his death in 1981. A journalist and longtime editor of the NAACP's "The Crisis," he served the organization for 46 years, becoming its executive director. A champion of working through constitutional and legislative means, he helped plan the 1963 March on Washington and press for landmark civil rights, voting rights, and fair housing laws.
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On April 10, 1947, inside what was then the McAlpin Hotel on Herald Square, Jackie Robinson got the phone call confirming he would join the Brooklyn Dodgers — days before he stepped onto Ebbets Field and broke Major League Baseball's color line. Robinson, a UCLA-educated Army veteran, had spent 1946 proving himself with the Dodgers' farm system while enduring relentless hostility. His debut that spring made him the first Black player in the modern majors, a turning point watched by the whole country. The moment this plaque marks is the quiet hinge before the history: a room, a phone, and a decision that reshaped American sport and society.
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