Jackie Robinson was the first African American Major League Baseball player. His signing marked the end of segregation in professional baseball. He had an illustrious sports career, being one of four black players on UCLA’s football team and the school’s first student-athlete to letter in four sports.
After his 10-year baseball career that ended with a walk-off homerun in the 1956 World Series, according to this museum for Jackie Robinson, he accepted a job offer at Chock Full O’ Nuts restaurant chain in New York.
He used his position at Chock Full O’ Nuts to improve working conditions for employees. Robinson was often a featured speaker at civil rights rallies, including the famed March on Washington in 1963, according to this piece from Stanford University.
Pictured in this article is Jackie Robinson receiving his MLB regular season MVP award in front of his teammates in 1949. In the beginning of his career a lot of the league, fans, owners, and even teammates didn’t like his presence. Robinson addressed this and gave a memorable speech to his team in 1947 where he said, “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
If you would like to learn more about Jackie Robinson, and his impact on Black History, please click the following links:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/robinja02.shtml
