A decade before Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott, two decades before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. proclaimed “I Have a Dream,” a signature event in the struggle for racial equality unfolded far from Dixie.
On the afternoon of April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson emerged as an inspiring figure in the civil rights movement when he became the first black man to play major league baseball in the 20th century, making his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field.
Robinson’s triumphs in the face of bigotry evoked a sense of pride among black people and forced the rest of America to consider anew the doctrine of white supremacy.