CAIRO — A century ago in Cairo, Jackie Robinson was born.

Jack Roosevelt Robinson became the first black player in modern Major League Baseball history in 1947, but it was along Hadley Ferry Road in a three-room cabin in the Rocky Hills community near the Ochlockonee River where the future star was born to a family of tenant farmers Jan. 31, 1919.

One hundred years after his birth, Robinson is now widely regarded as an American hero who displayed courage and skill at a higher level of scrutiny than any African-American before him.

Kathy Young, Robinson’s niece who currently lives in Los Angeles, California, said Jackie’s biggest impact was standing up for issues he believed were important.

“I think it’s the strength in his character that we’ve seen retold over continues to carry his legacy,” Young said.

Jackie, the fifth child of Mallie McGriff Robinson and Jerry Robinson and the grandson of former slaves, was born at approximately 6 p.m. He was delivered by his grandmother Edna, a nurse midwife.

Details of Robinson’s brief time in Cairo are inconsistent. Some accounts, including that of Robinson biographer Arnold Rampersad, believe it is likelier that Jackie was actually born several miles away on the grounds of the old Sasser Plantation.

A historical marker noting Jackie’s place of birth is currently at the Hadley Ferry location, which the Robinson family states was where it occurred.

The entire Robinson family worked for plantation owner James Sasser, who expected his tenants to spend all of their earnings at his company store. On at least one occasion, Sasser forced the Robinsons to move into a different home to make room for additional laborers.

Jackie’s father Jerry, who temporarily separated from Mallie on at least three occasions during their 10-year marriage, permanently left the family in July 1919 to live with another woman, according to transcribed notes from Robinson’s mother.

Left to raise five children alone and facing a difficult existence working on the Sasser Plantation, Mallie Robinson took her family on a midnight train to Pasadena, California, to live closer to her half-brother.

The date of the Robinsons’ departure from Cairo is disputed, with sources claiming Jackie was as young as 14 months or as old as 3 years. Rampersad said the departure took place May 21, 1920, while Robinson’s family said it occurred when he was 18 months old.

Robinson spent most of his formative years in California, where he and his older brother Mack, Young’s father, became active in sports.

Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey elevated Robinson from the Negro Baseball League to the majors in 1947, ending the segregation of the sport which had existed since the 1880s.

The then-28-year-old Robinson was the first African-American to play at the highest level of baseball in 63 years.

The move was a successful one, and both Sporting News and the Baseball Writers Association of America named Robinson Rookie of the Year.

Two years later, Robinson was the National League’s Most Valuable Player. He led the NL in stolen bases in 1947 and 1949 and led second basemen in double plays each year from 1949 through 1952.

During Robinson’s 10-year tenure with the Dodgers, the team advanced to the World Series six times, winning once in 1955.

Robinson was named to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 and MLB retired his number 42 uniform across all major league teams in 1997.

Young said she was unaware of her uncle’s national fame until an encounter with an adult during the first grade at her elementary school.

“What stuck out to me was that there was this big man who came over to me and asked me if I was Jackie Robinson’s niece,” Young said. “When I said yes he wanted to shake my hand.”

All that remains of Robinson’s life in Cairo today is the brick chimney of the three-room tin-roofed house on Hadley Ferry where he was apparently born. The wooden structure itself, originally built in the late 19th century, was destroyed in a fire in 1996.

Linda Walden, a distant relative of Robinson who opened a medical practice in the area in 1996, said she was surprised many people in Cairo were unaware the Civil Rights hero hailed from the area.

“I said, ‘I’ve got to do something to let them know great people come from small towns like Cairo,'” Walden said. “They should be proud of where they come from.”

Walden founded the Jackie Robinson Cairo Memorial Institute to preserve his memory in 1997, the 50th anniversary of his historic major league debut.

“It was all to inspire and encourage our young people in particular to know that they too can make a difference in this world,” Walden said. “It doesn’t matter where one comes from, but what one has within that will help them to be successful.”

Walden and the institute helped place signs at Cairo’s city limits marking the city as the birthplace of Robinson in 1997.

That same year the institute was also responsible for helping name a 10-mile stretch of Highway 93 the Jackie Robinson Memorial Parkway.

With the assistance of former U.S. Senator Max Cleland, the Georgia Historical Society erected a historical marker on Hadley Ferry Road in 2002 at the behest of Walden marking the location as Robinson’s official birthplace.

Plans to erect a life-sized bronze statue of Robinson in front of the county courthouse were turned down by the county commission.

Walden, who hired a Tallahassee sculptor to show the commissioners what the state would look like, was disappointed when a memorial honoring Confederate soldiers was built on the spot she suggested the statue be placed.

“Nobody ever wanted anything on that lawn until I wanted to have a statue of Jackie Robinson,” Walden said.

Additional plans by Walden to commemorate Robinson included the construction of a multicultural center that featured an amphitheater and spring baseball facilities, though the idea was eventually scrapped.

The Cairo High School baseball field was renamed the Jackie Robinson Field in 1996 and the Jackie Robinson Boys & Girls Club was founded in Cairo in 2009. Walden said she was not heavily involved in naming of either location.

Each year the institute holds an essay contest for middle school students in Thomas and Grady counties on Robinson’s impact, with winners receiving a cash award and memorabilia.

Robinson, who died in 1972, is only known to have returned to Cairo twice, first in 1949 while the Dodgers were playing a series of exhibition games in Georgia.

Already famous at the time for having broken baseball’s color barrier, Robinson was accompanied by teammates Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe.

The African-American community in Cairo held a parade for the hometown star and Robinson gave a brief speech.

Robinson declined a cash gift he was presented by the crowd, instead requesting a country ham, which he brought back to New York.

Upon returning to New York, Jackie’s northern-raised wife Rachel thought the layer of protective mold covering the ham meant it had spoiled and wanted to throw it away, though Robinson managed to convince her to share it with friends.

An additional visit to Cairo may have occurred sometime in the early 1960s, when Robinson was an active voice for African-Americans during the Civil Rights movement.

According to Robinson’s family, Jackie brought a suitcase full money to bail out students in Albany who participated in protests at segregated lunch counters when the visit is believed to have occurred, though there are no further details.

Although Robinson didn’t spend much of his life in Cairo, Walden believes the community should care about their native son.

“Even though (Cairo) is a small town, it’s a great town made of good people,” Walden said. “Great people came from here. Just like Jackie.”

Editor’s note: The Grady County Museum and History Center provided information for this article.