CAIRO, Ga. — A dedication ceremony was held recently for two historical markers erected in honor of baseball legend Jackie Robinson.

One was a rededication of a historical marker for Robinson’s place of birth on Hadley Ferry Road, after the original was vandalized by gunshots in February 2021. The other marker was placed at Roddenberry Memorial Library.

W. Todd Groce, president and CEO of the Georgia Historical Society, said the marker installed at the library will aid in sending people to the one located at Robinson’s birthplace. 

In the face of the vandalism, the GHS partnered with Major League Baseball, which provided a $40,000 gift that funded the new markers and covered the costs of future upkeep at the sites.

The marker reads in part: “Robinson was born 13 miles south of Cairo on January 31, 1919, before he and his family moved to California in 1920. After attending UCLA, serving in the U.S. Army, and playing in the Negro American Baseball and International Leagues, Robinson played for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, breaking Major League Baseball’s color barrier.”

Groce said that the efforts of MLB and the Jackie Robinson Cairo Memorial Institute were invaluable and the collaboration between them and the GHS made a mark on Cairo. 

“We all came together to do the right thing,” he said.

Cairo Mayor Booker Gainor said that in the face of the violent, disrespectful act of vandalism, the community had endured and continued to break barriers.

“This community remains resilient and continues to persevere,” he said, “Thank you, and let’s continue to break those barriers in our homes.”

Linda Walden, a relative of Robinson and the founder of the Jackie Robinson Cairo Memorial Institute, said the markers are more than just history to her. 

“This marker, that, is very important to me,” Walden said, “It represents who he was.”

The original, vandalized marker was donated to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Robinson died in 1972.

Other speakers involved in the event included U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany; Kevin Moss, senior manager of community affairs at MLB; Raymond Doswell, vice president and curator at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum; Janet Boudet, director of the Roddenbery Memorial Library; and Howard Thrower, chairman of the Roddenbery Memorial Library Board of Trustees.

Gov. Brian Kemp sent a letter to the GHS in honor of the dedication that spoke of Robinson’s American values. 

“Jackie Robinson was not just a great baseball player, though his credentials on the field rank as one of the most skilled of his generation,” Kemp wrote, “He was a great American, embodying the values that make our nation the beacon on a hill.”