Wearing his military uniform, Jackie Robinson signs a contract on Oct. 23, 1945 to becomes the first Black to play with a white professional baseball team.
Bettmann/Getty Images
Like millions of other Blacks during the first half of the 20th Century, legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson was a republican. That changed when the GOP opposed voting rights for Blacks.
Jackie Robinson addresses civil rights supporters protesting outside the 1964 GOP National Convention.
Ted Streshinsky/Corbis via Getty Images
Years before Colin Kaepernick was born, Robinson wrote, ‘I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a Black man in a white world.’
Adoring fans clamor for an autograph from baseball legend Jackie Robinson in 1962, but Robinson faced slurs, hatred and insults in his early years in the majors.
Bettman/
Major league baseball opens today, and few are likely to give race a thought. When Jackie Robinson integrated MLB in 1947, it was a far different story. Did racism lead to Robinson’s early death?