Inside the Vault: Jackie Robinson

Originally broadcast on May 29, 2020, this session of Inside the Vault: Highlights from the Gilder Lehrman Collection explores a comic book about Jackie Robinson’s rookie year and letters written by Richard Nixon and Robert Kennedy to Jackie Robinson about the Civil Rights Movement. Jason Butler, a professional learning facilitator from DeKalb County (Georgia) School District and Taína Quiñones, manager of content development at the Jackie Robinson Museum, joined the curators for the conversation. 

Click here to download the slides from the presentation.

Classroom-ready resources for the documents presented

• The pages of Negro Heroes, No. 2 related to Jackie Robinson
• A 1957 letter from Richard Nixon to Jackie Robinson
• A 1961 letter from Robert Kennedy to Jackie Robinson

Use the timestamps below to jump to the documents you want to view

• The pages of Negro Heroes, No. 2 related to Jackie Robinson: 5:26–36:28
• A 1957 letter from Richard Nixon to Jackie Robinson: 52:40–1:00:48
• A 1961 letter from Robert Kennedy to Jackie Robinson: 1:02:14–1:10:25

Related Materials

• Full comic book Negro Heroes, No. 1
• Full comic book Negro Heroes, No. 2
• A 1957 letter from Dwight Eisenhower to Jackie Robinson
• A 1959 letter from John F. Kennedy to Jackie Robinson
• A 1961 letter from Dwight Eisenhower to Jackie Robinson
• A 1961 letter from Robert Kennedy to Jackie Robinson
• A 1962 letter from Robert Kennedy to Jackie Robinson
• A 1963 letter from Robert Kennedy to Jackie Robinson