Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson, born Jack Roosevelt Robinson, is known for being the first African-American to play in Major League Baseball. He was born on January 31, 1919 in Cairo, Georgia as the grandson of a slave. He was the youngest of five children and at six months old his father left them. At this time, because it was so hard for African-Americans in the south, his mother Mallie Robinson decided to move them to Pasadena, California where it was easier for African-Americans to live and find jobs.

At this time Jackie was very into sports so this move made him pretty upset. He played baseball, basketball, football, and ran track while attending the University of California, Los Angeles. He was one of the top players on the football team as well as the only athlete to letter in four different sports. Unfortunately, Jackie left college before getting a chance to graduate due to financial problems but not before meeting his future wife Rachel. After his departure from UCLA he began working for the National Youth Administration at a work camp but it soon closed down and in 1941 he joined the Honolulu Bears, a professional football team in Honolulu, Hawaii.

He was then drafted into the U.S. Army where he was refused admission to the Officer Candidate School. He fought this until he was finally accepted and graduated as a first lieutenant. He was in the Army from 1941 until 1944 and was stationed in Kansas and Fort Hood, Texas. While stationed in Kansas he worked with a boxer named Joe Louis in order to fight unfair treatment towards African-Americans in the military and when training in Fort Hood, Texas he refused to go to the back of the public bus and was court-martialed for insubordination. Because of this he never made it to Europe with his unit and in 1944 he received an honorable discharge.

After his departure from the Army he joined the Kansas City Monarchs, an all African-American baseball team, of the Negro League. Due to low pay and constant traveling, he decided he did not want to make baseball a career although he was one of the top players. Until 1947 only white players were allowed in Major League Baseball but in 1945 Clyde Sukeforth, a scout for Branch Rickey who was the Brooklyn Dodgers club president, had been looking for an African-American player and was watching Jackie for a while.