Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson had no intention of becoming a civil rights reformer; his goal was to play major league baseball. When he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, however, he became a pioneer in the post–World War II effort to end racial segregation in the United States. On that date, Robinson became the first black major league baseball player of the twentieth century. Robinson blazed a trail for scores of black players who joined major league teams during the 1950s and changed the game of baseball. He also became a model for other reform-minded African Americans intent on integrating previously segregated workplaces, neighborhoods, schools, and public places. As this excerpt from his autobiography I Never Had It Made suggests, Robinson came under considerable pressure while achieving his goal. The Dodgers selected Robinson to integrate baseball because...