Rachel Robinson has preserved the memory and legacy of her husband, Jackie, for 50 years. She is the founder of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a nonprofit that provides college scholarships and leadership training. Alongside her husband, who was the first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era, she was a civil rights activist, and in her own right, a pioneer in the medical field. In 1961, Rachel graduated from New York University with a master's degree in psychiatric nursing. She was later the director of nursing for the Connecticut Mental Health Center and an assistant professor of nursing at Yale University.