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Jackie Robinson, An American Legend

In 1945, Jackie Robinson changed the face of sports with a single signature. He became the first African American to play Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson is remembered by many as a hero.

The story began in 1919. Jerry and Mallie Robinson welcomed their fifth child into the world. They named their new son Jack Roosevelt Robinson and called him Jackie. Little did they know that, one day, he'd make history. When Jackie was just 6 months old, Jerry deserted the family. Hoping that things would be easier for an African American family out West, Mallie decided to take her children and leave the South. In 1919, the Robinsons moved from Cairo, Georgia to Pasadena, California.

Jackie's family met with racism in California as well. Black families were not allowed to eat in many restaurants. Also, they were only allowed to use the public pool on certain days of the week. This upset young Jackie, but he found something that he loved: sports. Jackie excelled at football, baseball, basketball, and track.

In college, Jackie became the first UCLA student to earn a letter in four sports. Back then, Jackie's sport of choice was football. Jackie also met his wife, Rachel, in college, but he left without graduating. He went to work for the National Youth Administration. When it closed, Jackie joined a professional football team. That did not last long; however, because Jackie enlisted in the army in 1941. It was the beginning of World War II.

At this time, the Army was also still segregated. African American soldiers did not serve in the same groups as whites. Black soldiers were even made to sit in the back of the bus. While on a training exercise in Texas, Jackie refused to take a seat in the back of the bus. Because of his defiance of an order, Jackie was not shipped out to Europe with the rest of his unit. Instead he was stationed in Kansas, where he met Joe Louis, a famous boxer. The two worked together against unfair treatment of blacks. Because of his behavior on the bus, Jackie was court-martialed (put before an Army judge) for defiance. He received an honorable discharge.

After his service in the Army, Jackie decided to play baseball. At the time, there wasn't an official ban on African American players in Major League Baseball (MLB). Other players' attempts to sign with an MLB team had failed, though. Because of this, many African American players formed the Negro League (NL). Jackie began playing for the Kansas City Monarchs (part of this league) in 1941 and quickly rose to the top. After time, he began to dislike the low pay and demanding travel schedule. At this point, Jackie wasn't entirely sure he wanted to play baseball for a living.

While playing in the NL, Jackie caught the eye of an MLB scout (person paid to find and recruit talented players). Branch Rickey was the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, an MLB team. He was looking for an African American player to bring to the team. Rickey did this secretly because other attempts to bring African American players to the league did not turn out well. After hearing reports from his scout, Rickey's sights were set on Jackie. Many people thought that the outspoken Jackie was an unusual choice. First of all, he was 27 years old at the time (a few years older than the average prospect). Second, he was known for being outspoken and having a temper. Many thought this would bring even more controversy (public debate between two sides of an issue) to the idea of an African American player entering the league.

In 1945, Rickey drew national attention when he signed Jackie Robinson to play for his Dodgers. Jackie Robinson became the first African American player to sign with a Major League Baseball team. For the first two years of his career, Jackie played in the Dodger's Minor League team (a team that prepped players for the major leagues). At first, it was very difficult. Once again, Jackie was forced to ride in the back of the bus and faced much racism. Some teams even cancelled games because he was playing.

In spite of all this, Jackie played very well. Rickey signed him to the Dodgers in 1947. Rickey asked Jackie to control his temper as much as he could in the beginning. Rickey did this because he realized that Jackie would become a symbol for the cause of integration (allowing whites and African Americans to come together) in sports. If Jackie were ill-tempered and hot-headed, those who were already questioning Rickey's decision to sign him might never come around. Rickey also knew that Jackie would face a great deal of grief from players, fans, and even announcers. Jackie agreed to control himself. He had come a long way, but his struggle was far from over.