Page 4 - Jackie Robinson: Entrepreneur
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Entrepreneur
After baseball, Robinson became the first black vice-president of a major mainstream corporation when he
joined the Chock Full o’ Nuts coffee and restaurant chain. Having integrated sports and leadership positions
for African Americans in corporate America, Jackie undertook several business projects, and each was intended
to improve the daily life of African Americans. As a player, he was an equity partner in the low-income housing
Jackie Robinson Homes and Jackie Robinson Apartments. In 1970, he formed a construction company and built
affordable housing in New York City. After decades of witnessing the frustration of black Americans dealing with
financial institutions, his most ambitious vision was realized in 1964 when he co-founded the Freedom National
Bank, the largest African American owned bank in the United States at the time.
His moves in the business world were not always successful, but Jackie’s and Rachel’s values were reflected in their
choices. His athletic gifts gave him an international platform to advocate on behalf of African Americans, and
duty of his sacrifice was his greatest asset, once saying, “I have the feeling that the black community, while they
don’t always agree with me, at least knows I’m not going to sell them out.”
2 Jack Roosevelt Robinson: Entrepreneur
