Robinson said it is important to remember that despite the stress and turmoil her father faced in his role as trail blazer,In home display he also felt great fulfillment in raising a family with his wife Rachel and continually trying to raise consciousness about the need for equal rights for blacks and other minorities.
Robinson said the movie does a good job of highlighting the resistance and prejudice her father faced during that first season, and it could help people discuss ways which people and institutions in American society still fall short of providing equal opportunity and access regardless of race.
"Kids today can't remember a time when they didn't have interracial socialization, so it could seem like a foreign concept that you had those types of divisions in society," Robinson said. "I think it is a great opportunity for discussion within classrooms and homes and for people to think about what's different now and what they can do to promote equality in America for all people."
As Robinson approached the end of his Hall of Fame career, he moved his young family out of New York City to a custom-built home at 103 Cascade Road. The family moved into their new 12-room ranch home in 1955; Robinson retired the next year. The family would remain at the home until Robinson died at 53 from a heart attack in 1972, selling it in 1984.
Sharon Robinson said she still cherishes her childhood memories of her father and life in Stamford,Home energy monitor especially eating dinner with her family nightly, and spending afternoons exploring the woods around the adjacent reservoir.
"I loved that house and still can't believe that it was subdivided into three lots when we sold it," Robinson said. "It has a lot of my favorite memories."
Her father played touch football with neighborhood children, and Robinson said she and another young girl both owned ponies they would ride together on dirt roads around the neighborhood, she said.
The
attraction of the reservoir behind the property and their sprawling
home, complete with an ice cream parlor, helped make it a sort of
neighborhood headquarters for children, Robinson said, a development her
father welcomed.Robinson remembered her father testing the ice on the lake to ensure it was thick enough for children to navigate with a toboggan.
"I have wonderful memories of living on Cascade Road and sometimes I don't think my heart has ever really left that place," she said. "It was like a fantasy."
While Robinson and her brothers David and Jackie Jr. were aware of their father's status as a celebrity and symbol of the civil rights movement, the isolated, but idyllic wooded confines of North Stamford, and the acceptance of the mostly white families towards the Robinsons helped buffer them from some of the turmoil in wider society.
"While it was socially isolated it was a great place for young kids to be free and especially because we had a famous father we weren't on display at all," she said. "We planted our own trees and in a lot of ways it was perfect. It was very hard to let that place go."
Ralph Branca, a Brooklyn Dodgers starting pitcher and teammate of Robinson's through 1953, said watching "42" at an advance screening brought back both his sense of admiration for Robinson and the sometimes visceral expressions of racial abuse expressed that first season.
"He was a great man," Branca said. "On the road we would eat dinner, and we also went to Yonkers Raceway. Though we never bet much, you have to remember we worked for Rickey, so we didn't make a lot of money, even though Jackie was a superstar."
Branca said Robinson's decision to brush off the abuse of fans and players on the field was demanded by Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey who believed any expression of anger by Robinson would harm efforts to integrate baseball.
"Branch Rickey didn't want him to get into any incidents or imbroglios," Branca said. "He was a fiery, feisty, and fierce competitor, but when he thought he was safe at second and he was called out you, would see him jump up and almost argue, before turning his back and running back to the dugout."
In later years, Branca played golf with Robinson and attended the Robinson family's annual jazz concert fundraiser at their North Stamford home, an event which drew thousands, he said.
"He was a great man and we remained life-long friends," Branca said. "Jackie and I always got along, and Ann and Rachel were also friends, so we saw each other."
On Saturday morning, Black Connecticut and the Jackie Robinson Foundation will host a fundraising screening of "42" at the Bowtie Majestic Theater at 118 Summer St. Tickets are $15, with the proceeds going towards the purchase of a red-black and-green Pan-African flag to be flown at Mill River Park.
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