Robinson, Sharon 1950–

Robinson, Sharon 1950–

Personal

Born January 13, 1950, in New York, NY; daughter of Jackie (a baseball player) and Rachel (Isum) Robinson; married twice (both marriages ended); children: Jesse Simms. Education: Harvard University, B.S.; Columbia University, M.S. Hobbies and other interests: Sports, reading.

Addresses

Home —Norwalk, CT. Agent —Marie Brown, Marie Brown Associates, 625 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

Career

Nurse midwife, 1975–; writer. Yale University, New Haven, CT, assistant professor of nursing; also taught at Columbia University, Howard University, and Georgetown University. Jackie Robinson Foundation, member of board of directors. Appointed director of educational programming for major-league baseball.

Member

American College of Nurse-Midwives (member, board of directors).

Writings

Stealing Home: An Intimate Family Portrait by the Daughter of Jackie Robinson, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1996.

Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.

Still the Storm, Genesis Press, Inc. (Columbus, MS), 2002.

Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America, Scholastic Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to a women's health textbook; contributor of articles to Essence magazine and to professional journals.

Sidelights

Sharon Robinson was born in 1950 to a famous father: Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play major-league baseball. She recounts what it was like for her and her brothers to grow up in the public environment that came with their father's pioneering achievement in the world of sports in her 1996 book, Stealing Home: An Intimate Family Portrait by the Daughter of Jackie Robinson. As Robinson reveals, her father tried very hard to be a good family man, and to give time and attention to his children. Nevertheless, she and her brothers, Jackie, Jr. and David, felt the strain of having to share their dad with his many admiring fans. As an adult, Sharon became a nurse midwife, and survived two failed marriages. In addition to the details of her life and her family's life in Stealing Home, Robinson also includes a collection of family photographs that follow her father's career and his growing family. A Publishers Weekly critic responded favorably to the volume, predicting that Sharon Robinson's "loving biography" of her father "will add to his stature."

In Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By Robinson presents a collection of essays on nine inspiring character traits that shaped her while growing up under her father's tutelage, including: courage, determination, teamwork, persistence, integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment, and excellence. As Robinson notes, Jackie's Nine "presents values as principles by which to shape a life, rather than as mere buzz worlds." The text also describes the ways the elder Robinson attempted to embody those same values, prompting readers "to nurture those same values within their own lives," according to Daniel R. Beach in Book Report.

Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America provides readers with insight into the active role the baseball legend played in fueling the civil rights movement. Robinson chronicles her father's legendary career and the trials he faced while growing up and encountered later, in his celebrated career. "In captivating words and picture," the daughter includes telling glimpses into Robinson's life that reveal "information on the post-Civil War world, race relations, and the straggle for civil rights," commented Tracy Bell in School Library Journal. Gillian Engberg stated in Booklist that "there are numerous biographies about Robinson available for young people, but none have this book's advantage of family intimacy."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Robinson, Sharon, Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By, Scholastic (New York, NY), 2001.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1996, p. 1628; July, 2001, John Peters, review of Jackie's Nine: Jackie Robinson's Values to Live By, p. 2004; February 15, 2004, Gillian Engberg, review of Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America, p. 1077.

Book Report, September-October, 2001, Daniel R. Beach, review of Jackie's Nine, p. 72.

Emerge, October, 1996, p. 73.

Kirkus Reviews, January 15, 2004, p. 88.

Library Journal, June 15, 1996, p. 72.

Newsweek, February 9, 2004, Elise Soukup, review of Fast Chat: Humble Heroics p. 12.

New York Times Book Review, November 3, 1996, p. 18.

Publishers Weekly, May 13, 1996, p. 66; May 14, 2001, review of Jackie's Nine, p. 84; February 9, 2004, review of Promises to Keep, p. 82; March 1, 2004, review of Promises to Keep, p. 34.

School Library Journal, October, 1996, p. 166; June, 2001, review of Jackie's Nine, p. 180; March, 2004, Tracy Bell, review of Promises to Keep, p. 242; October, 2004, review of Promises to Keep, p. 32.

Sports Illustrated, July 8, 1996, p. 5.

ONLINE

BookPage.com, http://www.bookpage.com/ (June 11, 2005), "Sharon Robinson."