LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Jackie Robinson: United States
built 230 days ago
The NYSDOT began rebuilding the Jackie Robinson Parkway in 1987. The state rebuilt the parkway mainline and ramps, erected a new concrete ("Jersey") median barrier, and installed new lighting and pavement markers. At Metropolitan Avenue (EXIT 6), the NYSDOT replaced a tight cloverleaf interchange with a four-ramp diamond interchange. At the height of reconstruction, the parkway was narrowed to one lane in each direction. When the NYSDOT finished the project in 1992, it restored the parkway to two lanes in each direction. However, speeds were lowered along the winding section through Cypress Cemetery, and through the curve underneath the Queens Boulevard underpass.
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In 1941 Robinson left college and shortly thereafter enlisted in the United States Army. He graduated from Officer Candidate School and became a second lieutenant in what was then a segregated army. Troubled by the mistreatment of black soldiers in his unit, Robinson protested the U.S. Army’s discriminatory practices. Military police at Fort Hood, Texas, arrested Robinson when he refused the driver’s order to move to the back of a bus. A court-martial hearing acquitted Robinson and he received an honorable discharge in 1944, leaving with the rank of first lieutenant.
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On October 29, 2003, the United States Congress posthumously awarded Robinson the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award the Congress can bestow. Robinson's widow accepted the award in a ceremony in the Capitol Rotunda on March 2, 2005.
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