Jack Robinson

Call Him Jack looks past the athlete to the man. Historians Yohuru Williams and Michael G. Long, both prominent scholars of Jackie Robinson, trace a life spent pressing for justice and equality for Black Americans. Their biography follows Robinson well beyond baseball, aiming to restore the person behind the famous public image and to introduce his legacy to readers who did not grow up with it.

The book draws on the voices of people who knew him and his era. Martin Luther King Jr. described Robinson as a participant in sit-ins before the sit-ins and in freedom rides before the Freedom Rides. Hank Aaron said Robinson led the Black Power movement before that name existed. Rachel Robinson, his wife, stressed that he was always Jack, not Jackie, the nickname white sportswriters gave him while he was in college.

Written for general readers interested in sports history and the civil rights era alike, the biography widens the focus from Robinson the sportsman to Robinson the whole person, while deepening an appreciation for what he accomplished on the field.