Jackie Robinson Biography

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Think of how hard it would have been to be an african american when the Jim Crow Laws were in effect. Then all of the sudden one man breaks the barrier. That man was Jackie Robinson.

Jackie Robinson was born on January 31, 1919. During his childhood the Jim Crow Laws were in effect which in his hometown (cairo Georgia) these were the laws: "All persons licensed to conduct a restaurant, shall serve either white people exclusively or colored people exclusively and shall not sell to the two races within the same room or serve the two races anywhere under the same license," "It shall be unlawful for any amateur white baseball team to play baseball on any vacant lot or baseball diamond within two blocks of a playground devoted to the Negro race, and it shall be unlawful …show more content…

Jackie naturally being good at all of these received varsity letters in all 4 of these sports but had to drop out do to financial problems and moved to hawaii where he played for the honolulu bears. Until WWII where he was forced to serve for 2 years in the Military. Jackie never saw combat though because he was arrested and court-martialed during boot camp after refusing to move to the back of a bus during training. Fortunately, he was acquitted of these charges, and received an honorable discharge. Jackie then immediately began his professional career playing baseball after he was discharged. During the effects of the Jim Crow Laws Jackie Robinson showed leadership by breaking the color barrier in the major leagues. He knew that people would dislike him being in the MLB, but he still took the risk. The immediate impact was that people called him an array of names and sometimes even threw objects at him. But eventually african americans were allowed back into MLB. During this time the Jim Crow Laws were in effect and African Americans were segregated from whites. This is why Jackie Robinson was so