7 Chapter 6 Army Days

Chapter 6 Army Days In April 1942, Jackie was sent to Fort Riley, Kansas, far from Rachel and his family. There, he was accepted into Officer Candidate School. The school trained soldiers to become officers—leaders in the army. Jackie's class was the first to include both whites and blacks. When he graduated, Jackie Robinson was a second lieutenant. He wanted to go overseas. But an ankle injury prevented that from happening. He was next sent to Fort Hood in Texas. The base had separate quarters for blacks and whites, separate dining halls, and separate bathrooms. The old Jim Crow laws were alive and well.

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One day Jackie was sitting on an army bus with a friend's wife. The woman looked white, though she wasn't. Suddenly the white driver stopped the bus. He didn't like the idea of a black man sitting with a white woman. He ordered Jackie to move to the back of the bus.

"Leave me alone!" Jackie shouted back. The driver warned there'd be trouble and called for the military police. Indeed there was trouble. Jackie was put on trial. At the trial, Jackie talked about his grandmother, what she'd taught him about being a

slave, and what it felt like to be called nasty names. He was found innocent. Not long after, Jackie was sent to an army base in Kentucky. There, he met a soldier who had played baseball in the Negro Leagues. In the 1940s, there were more than two hundred allblack teams with players every bit as good as players in the major leagues.

The soldier said there was good money in playing on an all-black baseball team. In fact, the Kansas City Monarchs were looking for players.