Why Is Jackie Robinson Considered The First African American MLB Player?

Jackie Robinson was one of the most historically well known people in the civil rights movement. So as the first man to integrate major league baseball, Jackie Robinson had a game changing impact on the way the game was played. Having the courage to fight for what is right, Jackie broke the imaginary color barrier that has covered major league baseball for years. Through his resiliency and tenaciousness in the face of seemingly unconquerable odds, Jackie Robinson set the course for African Americans to continue the expansion for equality and true freedom while he was becoming one of the greatest Major League baseball players in history.

To the average person, in the average American community, Jackie Robinson was just what the sports pages said he was, no more, no less. He was the first Negro to play baseball in the major leagues. Everybody knew that, but to see the real Jackie Robinson, you must de-emphasize him as a ball player and emphasize him as a civil rights leader. That part drops out, that which people forget. From his early army days, until well after his baseball days, Robinson had fought to achieve equality among whites and blacks. "Jackie acted out the philosophy of nonviolence of Martin Luther King Jr., before the future civil rights leader had thought of applying it to the problem of segregation in America"(Weidhorn 93). Robinson was an avid

Jackie Robinson changed baseball forever by being the first black baseball player to play professional baseball. By doing this, he was a gateway for African Americans to play in the MLB. Jackie Robinson impacted the game of baseball more than any other individual but he also impacted many other things because of his accomplishments. Breaking the color barrier wasn't enough for Jackie, he wanted more. He knew that the game of baseball was becoming more equal and wanted the United States as whole to become more equal as well.

Jackie Robinson is one of the best baseball players of all time. He was a great baseball player, as well as a civil rights activist. Jackie did many things to help the colored community, and to raise awareness of the inequality that was going on at that time. He did that while being one of the best baseball players of all time, and facing that discrimination in his personal life. Jackie was a hardworking individual, with the motivation to go over and beyond his task. Jackie Robinson was civil rights activist, and has an enduring legacy.

Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson did more in his short baseball career than anyone else ever did for the sport. He was always able to push on despite the criticisms and punishment he took from others. No other man can say that they broke the color barrier or that they changed the sport of baseball forever. To do what he did required strength and the ability to endure physical and mental pain. Jackie Robinson was the first African-American Major League Baseball player.

Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play baseball in the Major Leagues. He battled and fought through racism, he was a Civil Rights Activist. He changed the way Americans thought about segregation and baseball. Jackie Robinson led the Dodgers to six national titles and one victorious World Series. Jackie Robinson was first born on January 31st of 1919, in Cairo Georgia.

Jackie Robinson: athlete, social activist, hero. These are just some of the words people use to describe Jackie. Robinson was the first person to break the color barrier in Major League Baseball, at the time officially designated a white man’s sport. The blacks and whites played in separate leagues but Branch Rickey, vice president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, wanted to integrate Major League Baseball. At this time in the 1940s the Unites States was still segregated and the Jim Crow Laws still reigned heavily in the south. Integration didn’t start until 1948 when Truman signed Executive Order 9981 which integrated the military. This didn’t occur until after Robinson took the field as the first African-American to play in the major leagues.

Jackie became a second lieutenant in the US Army. In 1945 he was discharged from the Army for having weak ankles. After serving in the Army Jackie wanted to play sports so he joined Negro League baseball team, the Kansas City Monarchs. Later he joined the Dodgers showing that black Americans can play professional sports too. He did not care what people told him about his skin color, he did not care about the names people yelled at him. But it did bother him, but he fought against it mentally not physically. He did what Branch Rickey told him to do, not fight

He was the youngest of five children and raised in poverty by his single mother. Jackie attended John Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College. Robinson was quickly recognized by his outstanding athletic ability in all sports that he participated in. Football, track, basketball, and baseball were all sports that Jackie excelled in. Due to his extraordinary athletic ability, Jackie was quickly transferred to UCLA. He became the first athlete to letter in four different sports at one university. Robinson was kept busy with athletics almost his entire educational career. He believed in being a part of athletics and treated it as a lifestyle. As Robinson said, ¨Life is not a spectator sport. If you're going to spend your whole life in the grandstand just watching what goes on, in my opinion you're wasting your life¨ (Jackie Robinson... 1). Unfortunately, Robinson was forced to leave UCLA due to financial hardships. Even though he was forced to leave UCLA, Jackie Robinson was still the outstanding athlete he had always been. Following his experiences at UCLA, Robinson signed a contract with the Honolulu Bears to play semi-pro football. He received one hundred dollars per game he played during his semi-pro days. However, athletics are cut short again for Robinson due to the start of World War II in the United States. From 1942 to 1944 Jackie Robinson became a second lieutenant in the United States Army. During his boot camp training at Fort Hood, Texas, Robinson was arrested for refusing to give up his seat to a white man on a segregated bus (...Biography 1). These actions of refusal showed courage and gave Robinson more of a reputation in the world of racial

The Brooklyn Dodgers signed Robinson in 1947. This lead to breaking the racial barrier in baseball and helped open the opportunity for other African Americans to play baseball. He had to face a lot of adversity by people saying very racist sayings like “Negroes don't play baseball” and people calling him a “Nigger,” by fans and managers. Robinson was very humble on and off the field and more white people started to respect him and the African American people. Robinson is the only person to have his number retired throughout the whole league because of his significance to Major League Baseball. Many people have said, “Jackie is

One man changed the world of sports by becoming the first ever African American to ever play a professional sport as an African-American. Jackie Robinson affected the sporting world and it would not be the way it is today but it wasn't easy for him. Jackie Robinson started going to school young. He started to go to school at age three with his sister. His sister’s teachers were not happy that his sister brought him so he had to sit outside of the classroom during school.

Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier for African Americans. He is an idol to many African Americans because of his bravery to stand up and play. His success led him to be known as the National League's Most Valuable Player Award. With his family and friends pushing him to he great he was an amazing baseball player. No matter what color you are, you should be able to do what you

Jackie Robinson was the first Black to play in the “Major Leagues” and he was the one to break the color barrier and was the perfect person to do so. First, Jackie Robinson was a very good baseball player. This was perfect because 1 they couldn’t use any random person to be on their team because if they are bad at baseball the person would get a lot more hate then if they were good. Secondly, that was their main goal, to find someone (a black person) who is good at baseball, so they could show that black people are good at baseball/sports and should be given a chance. “The scouts told Mr. Rickey that during his season with the Negro League team the Kansas City Monarchs, Jackie Robinson played shortstop. He hit .387, perfected his skill at stealing

Jackie Robinson used perseverance, passion, and effort to achieve being the first black man in Major League Baseball. Firstly, Jackie Robinson used perseverance to overcome being switched positions. For Example, Henry Billings author of Hero’s, shares that although Jackie was an experienced second basemen he was forced to play first base (Henry). Thus this proves the point that Jackie used perseverance to overcome being switched positions. Secondly, Jackie had passion when he faced “racial hatred” in the Army. Furthermore, Billings reports that “when World War Two broke out Jackie joined the Army…one day a bus driver ordered Jackie to move to the back of an Army bus.” The front was for whites only. Jackie got mad and refused to move. He was

Jackie Robinson faced severe racism before his major league baseball career even began. Jackie Robinson went to school at UCLA and became the first ever man to letter in four sports. Not only was he the first man to letter in four sports but, he was also the first African American to do so. After two years at UCLA Jackie Robinson decided that college was not for him. Jackie Robinson said, “I was convinced that no amount of education would help a black man get a job” (11). Instead, Jackie Robinson wanted to be an athletic director. However, he knew that in those days no big time football or basketball program would hire a black man.