Jackie Robinson

Born: 1919 in Georgia

Died: 1972

He became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball, breaking the “color line.”

Brooklyn Dodgers’ owner Branch Rickey signed him knowing he’d have to face a great deal of racial abuse while asking him to have“guts enough not to fight back.”

Was first black player inducted into MLB Hall of Fame in 1962 & his number #42 was retired by all MLB teams.

Key figure in Civil Rights Movement, he won Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Said: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”