There are many factors, decisions, and spects of American History that contributed to Jackie Robinson breaking barriers in his life, but the most significant to impact it were his values of hard work, courage, and determination. I believe this because broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball to pave the way for all races and ethnic groups to play the sport they love professionally. Jackie Robinson knew the value of hard work. "Jackie excelled early at all sports and learned to make his own way in life. At UCLA, Jackie became the first athlete to win varsity letters in four sports: baseball, basketball, football and track. In 1941, he was named to the All-American football team." Jackie worked hard at everything he did and it was because of this he was able to get noticed by the Brooklyn Dodgers' president Branch Rickey. …show more content…
The air was sparkling. The sunlight was warm. The band struck up the national anthem. The flag billowed in the wind. It should have been a glorious moment for me as the stirring words of the national anthem poured from the stands. Perhaps, it was, but, then again, perhaps, the anthem could be called the theme song for a drama called The Noble Experiment. Today, as I look back on that opening game of my first world series, I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey's drama and that I was only a principal actor. As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it