Living a Family Life
In 1946, Jackie's year off between the Negro Leagues and the Major Leagues, he was married to Rachel Isum. Jackie met Rachel at UCLA, since she was a nursing student at that college. Being an African-American baseball player, Jackie was basically on display for the whole country to judge. Rachel and the three children they would have (Jackie Jr., Sharon, and David) gave Jackie emotional support and a sense of purpose large enough to keep him going through the hard years filled with pressure and hate.