Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball. Jackie Robinson had been interested in athletics ever since he was a little kid, his brother had inspired Jackie with his athletic achievements. When America entered World War Two, Jackie served as a second lieutenant in the United States Army. Although Jackie had a successful baseball career, he also was a striving vocal Civil Rights activist. Jackie Robinson broke the Civil Rights barrier and he inspired many more African Americans that they can too.
As a kid, Jackie was a striving athlete like his older brother Matthew Robinson, who won a silver medal at the Olympics in Berlin. Jackie as an African American athlete faced hardship and prejudice while playing four sports in high school, but that did not stop him because he continued his athletic career at the University of California Los Angeles. While in college he became the first student to win four varsity letters. Right before he was starting his season with the Honolulu Bears, a semi-pro football team, his season got cut short because he went to go server in World War two. During boot camp at Fort Hood, Texas, Jackie was arrested in 1944 for refusing to give up his seat and move to the back of a segregated bus. That incident sparked his Civil Rights career, which would be inspiring to many others.
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On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson walked out to first base for the Dodgers at Ebbets Field, this would be the first time an African American played in an official Major League Baseball game. At the end of Jackie’s first season, he had played very well, out-competing all of the other white rookies, allowing him to receive the Rookie of the Year award. Most people only know about his baseball career, but little do most people know that Jackie Robinson was a striving and successful Civil Rights activist along with his wife Rachel Robinson. After Jackie retired from baseball, he joined the NAACP as a chair of its million-dollar Freedom Fund Drive. Soon after he joined he was elected to the board of directors for the NAACP.
Jackie thought having an executive position was not enough, so he decided to join Martin Luther King Jr to march for integration in schools. Jackie also became a political supporter, supporting Richard Nixson in the 1960 presidential election. He also founded the Freedom National Bank, which gave loans and different types of services to minorities, especially African Americans who were struggling with their low-paying jobs. Jackie slowly faded out of the Civil Rights movement mainly because young leaders, like Malcolm X, were utilizing a more extreme approach to the movement. Jackie ultimately stopped conversing with MLK because their political views did not agree, causing Jackie to become a Democrat. Even though Jackie had left the NAACP he still continued to help the African American community by being a solo activist. One thing he did was start the Jackie Robinson Construction Company to build low-cost houses for minorities.
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