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After Jackie Robinson's retirement from baseball following the 1956 season, Rachel Robinson further pursued her nursing career, obtaining a master's degree in psychiatric nursing from New York University in 1959. She worked as a researcher and clinician at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine's Department of Social and Community Psychiatry, a position she held for five years. She then became an assistant professor at Yale School of Nursing and later the Director of Nursing at the Connecticut Mental Health Center.
In 1972, she incorporated the Jackie Robinson Development Corporation, a real estate development company specializing in low- to moderate-income housing, and served as president for ten years. In 1973, she founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a not-for-profit organization providing educational and leadership opportunities for minority students. The Foundation has provided support for over 1,000 minority students and has maintained a 97% graduation rate among its scholars.
In 1996, she coauthored
Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Portrait with Lee Daniels, published by Abrams Publishing Company.
Awards and honors
Rachel Robinson accepting the Congressional Gold Medal for her husband from President George W. Bush, 2005.
In 2007, Robinson received the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award by Commissioner Bud Selig.
In 2009, Robinson was awarded the UCLA Medal from Chancellor Gene Block for her lifetime achievements. The UCLA Medal is the university's highest honor and was created to "honor those individuals who have made extraordinary and distinguished contributions to their professions, to higher education, to our society, and to the people of UCLA." In addition to earning twelve honorary doctorates, Robinson was awarded the Candace Award for Distinguished Service from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Equitable Life Black Achiever's Award and the Associated Black Charities Black History Makers Award.
Robinson answering questions at the
42 film workshop in the State Dining Room of the White House in April 2013.
Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 2014. In 2017, she received the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Jackie Robinson Foundation
The Jackie Robinson Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides scholarships to minority youths for higher education, as well as preserving the legacy of Baseball Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson. It was founded in 1973 by Rachel Robinson and is located in New York City.
