So integrator our neighborhood and our school. Host i did want to ask that question. How much black people were living in stamford, connecticut, in 1963 . Guest it was north stanford so thats, morland and so it was our family. 63 there may have been more. There may have been two or three who lived up in that section of town. Still very much segregated in stamford, connecticut,. Host what do you remember about that segregation, possibly one of the few africanamericans . Guest i remember in Elementary School children ask d me if i made the and me feeling very insecure, very shy, didnt speak at all. I wouldnt ask questions. I wouldnt wear my glasses because i did want to be different in any other way. I didnt understand that was part of my experience there being the only black child in the fifth grade. So fifth grade is only black child in school. Host why did mom and dad want you to have that, or want you to live there . Guest i dont think the water as to that level of isolation nor lack of, they were not setting is out there as an experiment. My father was still playing for the brooklyn dodgers can one to live on land come have privacy. He thought it would be better for the family and stanford was 45 minutes of new york city so you would get in the game some practice easily. So thats really set up there and they actually ran into housing discrimination when they were looking for land and a house. So with the help of andrea simon from Simon Schuster family, because you lived in the community during the summertime that were able to even find this particular piece of property. Host were you aware that you were Jackie Robinson said daughter . Guest i was. We had a trophy room in our house. Our friends were very enamored of all the trophies and blacks. Wherever we went in public it was a different experience. We were a public family. We could go out on weekends and he would walk into the dining room and everyone turned and looked. We were very much aware that we had a public side and read this privacy at home so it balanced without drama from your book child of the dream you write something so we told you, maybe her older brother. Not easy being a robinson. It comes with such High Expectations and not enough praise. What does that mean . Guest it wasnt even so much our family. It with everyone else. People, for example, my brother who played Little League baseball and babe ruth baseball, they would compare him to my father. You cant do it as well as jackie. So youre constantly told youre not doing it as well. That was jackies experience, and set him up for a number of failures. In school and in life because he was compared all the time. Us, we didnt know how to measure success. We had this super dad and really a supermom as well. And so we were not sure how you measure success. My dad told us its not about trophies and awards. Its about how you live your life. How you change other peoples lives. We werent there yet so we worked kind of achieving at that level yet. Host who is Rachel Robinson . Guest she is my extraordinary mother. She is now 97 and i will see her on sunday. She is, she was my dads partner. They had a wonderful marriage. He died relatively early in his life and in her life as well and she moved right in from career so she could take of something if begun in housing and that gave her a new career, a model, and she found at the Jackie Robinson foundation. So she said both a number of successful careers as a nurse and an educator and then in housing and then with the Jackie Robinson foundation. Host Sharon Robinson, 1963 with standard benchmark your in this country and also for your family. What were some of the activities that happened . Guest the most important thing was birmingham, alabama. So thats where dr. King had a centralized his activity. Birmingham was considered the most segregated city in america at that point. Dr. King had a a birmingham campaign, and during that year, the beginning of the year, we had governor George Wallace announced segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. For me it set a tone of i thought he just declared war. We were talking about war anyway and i was like, is this another form of war . But also set the country up to understand what our battle was. That was sort of like a battle cry for us, and dr. King had organized in birmingham, alabama, after coming out of albany, georgia. They were marching sort of learned from albany, georgia, not to be as broad in what they were marching for and what the expectations were. They had been organizing with adults, but by april there were not able to mobilize enough adults in the longer and the turn to children. So for me the whole inspiration of this book was the childrens march. Because as a child watching it on Television Every Night and having my dad could end a birmingham, it became, i wanted to march with the children. I wanted to join the movement in a more substantial way and not just be sort of isolated in stamford, connecticut. My dad found a way to bring us into the Civil Rights Movement that tim and Floyd Patterson back then it was the boxers that would go down and trouble with my dad it wasnt the baseball players. They needed people to add visibility to the movement and floyd was one of the great guys that went down. That picture right there is actually Ag Gaston Motel were dr. King was staying. Host this one appear by my finger . Guest right. My dad Anne Patterson went down the next day to bring money for the children who had been jailed during the marches. They went to the site. They also state that that motel. Where it had been bombed . Guest edit just been bombed. Host Martin Luther king a friend of the family . Guest yes, a friend of the family. What we did as a family is we did, start doing jazz concerts and a first jazz concert was all to raise money. It was in june. Then we went host at the house . Guest our house congested my brothers and i sold hotdogs and sodas. Return in 1000 after the concert and we had a second one after, just after the march on washington. We had gone to the march on washington as a family and that was our first time as a family actually participating in the larger movement. It was just an amazing experience because this is what we are asking for. We used to ask a bad chemical we get birmingham . He said no, ill figure this out. He figured it out by bringing us with him to the march on washington. And then just after the march on washington we had our second jazz concert, and dr. King came to our house himself. It was amazing. Host we are talking with Sharon Robinson, the author of this book, child of the dream a memoir of 1963, talking about the Civil Rights Movement, her childhood during that time. Of course she is the daughter of Jackie Robinson. Sharon robinson, i saved the daughter of until the end. Do you get tired of hearing that . Guest no. I dont get tired of it, you know. As long as its in a business world. I do get tired of it where i live because of what two, oh and just be sharon, and i dont want to be the daughter of it i just want to be me. I feel like we should a a priv. Im working on my community to let them know, okay, now we know this. Lets go on and realize im a neighbor. Host do you work with major League Baseball today . Guest i still do. Yes. We have an credible program for 24 years that you start in 1997, breaking barriers. It essential apps gets understand that barriers are a part of life. Give them my dad story and give them values that i associate with the his success on and ofe field. Eventually tell their story in a National Essay contest, what barrier they the fed over, andk about that process, including which values they use. I go out, collect National Western we get between 11,000 11,00015,000 essays every year from kids all over the united states. I collect and visit with the winners in their classrooms, bring them to local major or Minor League Parks if we can, and in the grand Prize Winners are honored that is the allstar game or the world series. Its been an Incredible Program and really, ive been working with kids on the boards of fighting their voice to i tell them to me, voice is confidence. And by writing it down and telling, showing what it overcome, helping to build confidence and helping to build inner strength and thats been my work. Its just been incredible. I met some amazing children, and they stay in touch. Host it was 56 years ago i believe, if i got that that right, just about right now that the march on washington happened. Guest yes. Host two miles from where were sitting. What do remember about those august 1963 days of washington . Guest i remember it was hot and very, very crowded. People came from all over. There were buses all over the city. I remove remember us going as t because again this is our first ongoing on a march march and wed only seen the marches in birmingham on television. We didnt quite know what to expect. And i remember we were separated from my dad at one point, and in that process i got overheated and dehydrated and think it. So i remember being carted off to the medical tent, and they got as coming back together, and then we went and met up with my dad and we were able to hear dr. It was an experience that i wanted to be part of the larger move as of this was my First Experience of the participating as, being an activist on that level. I started being an activist on a lower level in terms of my School Papers and activating and advocating for myself in school. But now i felt the energy and the excitement of being in this mass of people that were all striving for equality and justice. Host what do you think of the movies that a been made about your dad and your family . Guest loved 42. Autos i could was i could. I felt they understood the determination versus i felt the original Jackie Robinson story which was made in 1950 ruby dee try to my dad himself in that movie. Black and white of course. Even as a child, and i was a child when this is made and watching it in day camp. I didnt record as my dad because the way he was directed. You can direct somebody to sort of people came away feeling well, he had the personality that he could have that adversity as opposed to some is so determined and seeing the Larger Mission and is pushing forward, and sort of holding back some Natural Instincts for some of the reactions. I loved 42 because chad was such a strong actor and he understood Jackie Robinson and showed up as a powerful, strong man who was on a mission. Host Sharon Robinson is our guest. First call from laura in maryland. Go ahead. Caller thank you so much. I am thrilled to be able to talk to you, and heres my question. Youre talking about the 63 march. I was 16 in 1959, and went on the youth march for integrated schools and im dying to know remember anything about that because your dad was there and so was i, and ive been trying to find out more information about it. I was going to get in touch with your mom, but now i have you. Do you know anything . Guest well, i remember that my dad did go to march 1959 also would like to hear your memories. So you can reach me through the Jackie RobinsonFoundation Based in new york city. And please call and leave a message that youre trying to reach me and we will talk. Host share from dublin, ohio. Go ahead, sharon. Caller i was just wondering how long did it take you to write your book and where do you live now . Guest thank you, sharon. As an author you very much, you write books in your head for a long time before you start writing them down. I wanted to write a book about the childrens march, started doing research for several years before i actually started writing this book. My editor and publicist convinced me it was the writing process i would say i get about two years of research. It took about a year and a half to write, and be edited. And then, the inns of being a full process to the end, but he was a number of years to think about the childrens march and out effectively in 1963. So i actually lived in delray beach, florida, and went back and forth between york city. Host either writers the works best with structure, a desk, laptop, walls last with timelines and story arc, quiet, perched in bed on my books. Guest shes at the hotel. She travels with me still. Host she is a dog . Guest a dog, i found your key. Host you edit, you like to edit on the beach. Guest i like noise so actually i go to a diner. This particular is right across the street from the beach and they allow me to sit there for hours and theres a table i like i can see the water so i sit in the upper level and can look up and see the water and do my editing. I like noises around you when it edit. I dont know why that is. Host next call for Sharon Robinson is larry from macon, georgia. Caller i was here, macon is my home and as you probably know they filmed 42 here. I enjoyed watching the film and it was a wonderful experience. Ive been down to the ballpark so many times and i lived to all the integration and so many good ballplayers at that stadium, so many times, and i just had some wonderful experiences there and i enjoyed seeing all the filming, not only of the ballpark but in the downtown area also. I just Jackie Robinson has always been one of my heroes and so i want to say thank you for that good movie and everything and i know it was, you said i think previously that it was very accurate, and i thought it was, too. I really enjoyed watching them and everything, and i remember the integration of the stadium. One time johnny wrubel pitched year and there were so many africanamericans that came to watch him pitch, that i really didnt have any choice but to integrate the stadium because the blacks had previously been made to sit over on the third base side of the smaller section. Guest right. Host larry, do you remember, do you remember hearing from people who were opposed to the integration of baseball and the integration of the stadium, et cetera, et cetera . Caller yes, yes, yes. Very much so. Host what were some of the comments . Caller well, you know, they went through, you know, they cannot restarted with the schools and they protested that, and then, then they would make comments like, you know, you know, they cant be happy, you know . 90 want to integrate our baseball park. Now they want to integrate them into the army, and all the stuff like that, you know. It was really sad, but i like to say we were over that now bute did go through that period of time here in macon. It wasnt a good time but it was, you know, a dark part of our history. The whole nations history. Guest american history. Host larry, two final questions. What kind of work do you do and how old are you . Caller im 72 and im a librarian, or retired librarian. Host thank you, sir. Appreciate your time. Sharon robinson had a little chat with larry. Guest i heard that times have changed and that he experienced that change, and that the other part he didnt say that white people did want to sit next to black people in a stadium. And you know, unfortunately we are experiencing similar attitudes today. I mean, one of the things my dad told is in the 60s, in the Civil Rights Movement we were fighting to change laws. He said you cant legislate hate, you know, hate will be around and it will be a constant struggle. We certainly are seeing that today, the country is very divided so i dont think he wanted to say that schools are resegregated in many places in america. So there are lessons we can learn from the 1963 or the Civil Rights Movement from the mid50s through the 60s with past the Civil Rights Act in 1954, but we still are living in a very divided world. Host Sharon Robinson, you talked about the private family and the Robinson Family have public face. Did your parents have to walk that line quite a bit knowing in a sense that they were Cultural Icons . At of these your father was a cultural icon, and yet they had personal feelings as well . Guest you know, i wouldnt say that they stayed online. My dad wrote columns. He wrote letters. He never stopped advocating equality and justice. He did it even when, he did about politics. He was always a voice out there. The once he retired from major League Baseball, he worked activism was in his blood, the movement was heating up and he jumped right in there and found february he could to continue to use and found every way he could to continue use his voice. Host what about Richard Nixon . Guest i told him i was ten years old and, you know, it was my first discussion with him about politics. My fifth grade teacher asked us to go home and find up to our audit was voting for. I knew who my father was voting for. I didnt have enough selfconfidence to say it doesnt matter who my father is voting for. I was voting for candidate. I went home and had a discussion with my dad, and i learned about integrity and commitment, and he admitted commitment to Richard Nixon. But thankfully he didnt support him the Second Time Around and he learned that nixon wasnt going to listen to them very early in the campaign. He stuck with him but he said he met with kennedy. Kennedy did not looking in the eye and explain to me about trust and how you establish trust with somebody. And also h