There's the chicken-scrawled letter from an angry fan in Cincinnati threatening to kill Jackie Robinson if he dared show his face at Crosley Field.

There's the picture of Robinson at bat, hitting the dirt to avoid one of many bean balls that first season in 1947.

And there's the photo of Robinson holding a bat with Philadelphia Phillies Manager Ben Chapman. They held a bat because Chapman, who had hurled racial venom from the dugout, refused to shake hands for a conciliatory camera shot.

The images highlight "Stealing Home: How Jackie Robinson Changed America," a provocative tribute by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to honor the legendary Dodger and baseball's "noble experiment" that forced open locker room doors to countless other African Americans.

The exhibit, scheduled to open Monday at the center's Museum of Tolerance, documents the time-honored story of Robinson's battle to break baseball's color barrier. But it also captures the painfully private moments that serve as a counterpoint to the most public of stories.

Behind every black-and-white photo and clip of grainy television footage, behind every jersey, pennant and baseball cap on display, lies a piece of Robinson's lonely journey--one he welcomed as a matter of pride and duty.

"There's not an American in this country who is free until every one of us are free," Robinson is quoted as saying in the exhibit.

Robinson faced daunting prospects in his quest to integrate professional baseball.

Storyboards with near-life-size pictures tell how players on opposing teams spat at him and threatened to strike rather than play against him. Hotels in St. Louis and Philadelphia refused to serve him. Even Robinson's Brooklyn teammates--the "Boys of Summer"--revolted against him.

Fellow players Duke Snyder and Pee Wee Reese recall in a video segment how some members of the ballclub--spearheaded by a group of hardheaded Southerners--circulated a petition during spring training to keep Robinson off the team.

The petition was quashed by Dodger President Branch Rickey, the mastermind behind Robinson's historic leap into baseball.

Through all the adversity, Robinson never flinched in his mission. He had promised Rickey that he would not fight back in his first three years with the Dodgers. But as he gained prominence and popularity, he began to speak his mind. He openly criticized teams, including the almighty New York Yankees, for failing to hire black ballplayers and managers.