Born: 1/31/1919 Cairo, Georgia
Died: 10/24/1972 Stamford, Connecticut
Jackie Robinson was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) second baseman who became the first African American to play in the major leagues in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947. The Dodgers, by playing Robinson, ended racial segregation that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s.Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.
Business / Schooling:
- University of California, Los Angeles (
Awards / Achievements:
- Robinson also was the first black television analyst in MLB, and the first black vice president of a major American corporation, Chock full o'Nuts. In the 1960s, he helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem, New York. In recognition of his achievements on and off the field, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom.
