Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 117.djvu/1214

 PUBLIC LAW 108–101—OCT. 29, 2003

117 STAT. 1195

Public Law 108–101 108th Congress An Act To award a congressional gold medal to Jackie Robinson (posthumously), in recognition of his many contributions to the Nation, and to express the sense of the Congress that there should be a national day in recognition of Jackie Robinson.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Oct. 29, 2003 [H.R. 1900]

31 USC 511 note.

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

The Congress makes the following findings: (1) Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, and was the youngest of 5 children. (2) Jackie Robinson attended the University of California Los Angeles where he starred in football, basketball, baseball, and track. His remarkable skills earned him a reputation as the best athlete in America. (3) In 1947, Jackie Robinson was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers and became the first black player to play in Major League Baseball. His signing is considered one of the most significant moments in the history of professional sports in America. For his remarkable performance on the field in his first season, he won the National League’s Rookie of the Year Award. (4) In 1949, Jackie Robinson was voted the National League’s Most Valuable Player by the Baseball Writers Association of America. (5) In 1962, Jackie Robinson was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. (6) Although the achievements of Jackie Robinson began with athletics, they widened to have a profound influence on civil and human rights in America. (7) The signing of Jackie Robinson as the first black player in Major League Baseball occurred before the United States military was desegregated by President Harry Truman, before the civil rights marches took place in the South, and before the Supreme Court issued its historic ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). (8) The American public came to regard Jackie Robinson as a person of exceptional fortitude, integrity, and athletic ability so rapidly that, by the end of 1947, he finished ahead of President Harry Truman, General Dwight Eisenhower, General Douglas MacArthur, and Bob Hope in a national poll for the most popular person in America, finishing only behind Bing Crosby.

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