Jackie Robinson's Role In Major League Baseball

There was a time when African Americans could not play in the major league. All African American baseball players played in the their own league called the Negro Leagues. That all changed when Jackie Robinson was giving a chance to change all of that. A man named Branch Rickey gave Jackie that opportunity to change the game and made Jackie the first African American to play in the Major Leagues. Jackie Robinson was born January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia. The youngest of five children, Robinson was raised by a single mother. He went to John Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College where he played four sports; football, baseball, track, and basketball. Robinson was very successful in all of these sports thanks to his big brother Mathew Robinson for his inspiration. Jackie then went to college at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he became the first to win varsity letters in all four sports. He was a true athlete he played everything and succeeded at them all. In 1946, Robinson married Rachel Robinson and had three kids …show more content…
The first black in the big leagues he encounters racism from fans, other teams and even his own teammates(Robinson). If it wasn 't for Jackie other black players would not have been able to end the Major Leagues. Jackie had to go through so much adversity playing in the major leagues. Fans, other teams and even coaches would do anything to try to get Robinson out of his game. Robinson endured verbal abuse from fans and players alike; deliberate spiking from the opposing team; and even death threats to his wife(Gale). I could imagine what his wife had to go through being at all the games with the threatening and racial slurs being thrown at her also. For someone to go through everything he had been through takes a lot of guts and pride. A person can only take so much and for him to be able to stay strong not to fight back takes