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By Leah Reddy

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke base- ball’s color barrier. Today, the Jackie Robinson Foundation is working to break down barriers to higher education faced by minority youth. Over 1,400 students have been helped by the Foundation. And when the Jackie Robinson Museum opens in One Hudson Square, many more will have the opportunity to learn about—and be inspired by—Robinson’s life.

“Rachel Robinson established the foundation in 1973 with an astute board who wanted to memorialize Jackie’s life,” Della Britton Baeza, president of the foundation, explained. “They felt that higher education was the next bastion of education that needed to be tackled for black Americans. The concept of the foundation—and it’s still relevant to us today—is that it’s not enough to just give financial aid to college-bound students. We have to have strategies for their success.”

The foundation now provides generous four-year college scholarships to 250 students annually. These “Jackie Robinson Scholars” also participate in a comprehensive program that includes curriculum and career guidance, internship placement, life-skills, and community service.

“The Jackie Robinson Museum will essentially expand our educational mission to include younger visitors,” Baeza said, noting that the museum will connect the life of Robinson with the civil rights movement. “This will be the only civil rights museum in New York City.”

With its proximity to Lower Manhattan, public transit, and the West Side Highway, Hudson Square is an ideal location for the new museum.

“We love the building because it is interesting architecturally—it comes to a

point right at the intersection of Varick and Canal Streets,” Baeza explained. “We thought it was a natural fit for a museum for Jackie Robinson, an American icon, so close to Lady Liberty.”

In addition to programs for school groups and visitors, the museum will hold forums on issues like class consciousness, racism, and religious tolerance. “What better place to address some of these important issues than a space that is a tribute to Jackie Robinson, one of the great integrationists of the last century?” Baeza said.

“If we can bring young people in to talk about the history of the civil rights movement in this country, with Jackie as this incredible icon, we can infuse them with the value system by which Jackie lived his life.”

Construction on the Jackie Robinson Museum is expected to begin in 2013.

Leah Reddy is Multimedia Producer for Trinity Wall Street.