Jackie Robinson Biography

1919-1972

American baseball player

Jackie Robinson is most remembered as the player who broke baseball's color barrier. By stepping into the white baseball world, the black Robinson changed the face of not only baseball, but the United States.

Jackie Robinson

Robinson integrated baseball during a time when schools, buses, restaurants, hotels, and drinking fountains remained segregated. His actions helped touch off the Civil Rights movement. That Robinson even produced during his baseball years is amazing, given the climate in which he played. After joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, Robinson faced death threats, vulgar insults, and hate-filled fans, along with beanballs aimed at his head and sharp, shiny spikes at his face as opponents slid into his tag at second base. Despite the pressure, Robinson earned a reputation as a dead-solid ballplayer through his no-nonsense fielding, reliable line drives, and his mastery of the tricky steal of home. After baseball, Robinson committed his life to ensuring fairer chances for African-Americans. He marched with Martin Luther King, raised funds for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and politically supported candidates he thought would help the cause of his people.