The intersection of social justice and sport is a hotly controversial conversation. Many believe that athlete should have the right to use their platform and influence to incite change. Others believe that an athletes job is to play sports and keep their “head down”. Whatever side you may fall on, one thing is for certain: top notch athletes are becoming increasingly influential in our society on every level. In order to better understand how we got here, let’s take a look at one of Americas first activist athletes.

It is no secret that racial and social injustice has been a battle fought throughout the history of the United States since its creation. African Americans faced many injustices, not the least of which was segregation, which included sports. In the 1940s, baseball was “Americas Pastime”, and people all around the country attended games and listened in on radios. The problem for millions of Americans was simple: No African Americans were allowed to play in Major League Baseball. A whole race was banned from the sport because they were seen as less than white people. In the 1930s, there was a sustained campaign to integrate baseball.

Robinson was the grandson of a slave and the son of a share cropper, and was treated as a second class citizen in his childhood. Robinson was a star athlete at UCLA, where he was the first four sport athlete at that school (football, basketball, track and baseball), which made him a local celebrity. Robinson was playing for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues, and he was identified by a man named Branch Rickey, who saw the opportunity for Robinson to break the color barrier in baseball. In 1947, Robinson would indeed break the color barrier and sign with the Brooklyn Dodgers, where he would spend his whole major league career.

Not only did Robinson become the first African American man to play professional baseball, he spent his career challenging American racism in a very outspoken manner. Robinson was well educated and had a raging fire lit underneath him from his families past. Not only was Jackie Robinson one of the best baseball players ever, but he was very influential and worked with other activists like Martin Luther King Jr. He also paved the way for others to use their sports platform to become activists, like Muhammad Ali, who came approximately 20 years later.

Robinson will never be forgotten for his athletic activism legacy and standing for what he believed in. He is forever immortalized in our hearts and he will always be the first of his kind.