Jackie Robinson

Jackie Robinson did not merely integrate Major League Baseball — he carried the dignity of a people into every stadium in America and did so under relentless scrutiny and provocation. Born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia, and raised in Pasadena, California, Robinson was a four-sport star at UCLA before serving as an Army officer during World War II. On April 15, 1947, he took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking the major leagues' color barrier that had excluded Black players for more than six decades. The pressure was immense and the hostility often vicious, yet Robinson excelled — winning National League Rookie of the Year in 1947 and the league's Most Valuable Player award in 1949. He led the Dodgers to six league pennants and a World Series championship, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. His number, 42, was retired across all of Major League Baseball in 1997 — the only uniform number so honored league-wide. Off the field Robinson remained an outspoken civil rights advocate until his death on October 24, 1972, in Stamford, Connecticut.