Many writers spend their careers fighting injustice; most fail. Sam Lacy's tenacity and skill, however, enabled him successfully to aid the desegregation of American sports, especially baseball. Lacy was one of the most outspoken advocates of integration and was Jackie Robinson's close companion through the turbulent first three years of Robinson's career in major league baseball. His columns provide a window into the debate over integration in baseball and, more broadly, in the country as a whole. Still a sports editor today, in his nineties, Lacy continues to speak out against the exploitation of black athletes and the residual elements of Jim Crow in the sports world. He has earned a place in history beside Robinson as a pioneer who challenged the American conscience through the sports media.

Sam Lacy was born on 23 October 1903 in Mystic, Connecticut, to Samuel Erskine Lacy and his wife, a Shinnecock Indian. In...