How Did Jackie Robinson Impact Society

Jackie Robinson was the first black major league baseball player. Most people know this, but they don’t realize how much of an impact he actually had. He did so much more outside of baseball. Jackie, like Rosa Parks, refused to give up his bus seat when he was in the army. He gave inspiration to many people of color in the United States.
Before Jackie Robinson played professional baseball, he was in the army. He was a lieutenant at Camp Hood in Texas. At the time, African American soldiers were treated badly and the armed forces were still segregated. In 1944, when he refused to move to the back of the bus, the military police were called. They called him racial slurs and he “threatened ‘to break in two’ anyone, whatever their rank or status, who employed that word” (Vernon, Prologue Magazine). He was

subjected to a general court-martial for insubordination and showing disrespect to a superior officer. Jackie thought the accusations were racially motivated and he contacted the NAACP. He was eventually found to be not guilty, and was later honorably discharged from the army.
After getting out of the armed forces, Jackie went to play professional baseball.

He started in the Negro Leagues with the Kansas City Monarchs. He caught the attention of Rickey Branch, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers were looking for a black baseball player that could possibly change the game of baseball forever. They needed someone who would bite their tongue and turn the other cheek, but still prove to people that an African American could play major league baseball. Robinson would do just that. He was voted Rookie of the Year, led the league in stolen bases, batted .297, and helped the Dodgers win the National League pennant all in one year (Jackie Robinson: Desegregation Begins with a Baseball).
Jackie’s playing in the majors was met by some hatred and protests. Some of his own teammates protested by signing a petition against him. Other major league teams threatened to strike if Robinson played. During games, he was spiked, thrown at while batting, and insulted, but he never fought back or reacted. His fellow Dodgers soon supported him, and in the coming years, he earned the respect and acceptance he deserved throughout the

league.
Jackie Robinson truly changed the way American people thought about segregation and African Americans in general. He showed America that black people were human, just the same as white people. Baseball was one of the first things to be desegregated, so Jackie was most certainly treading on thin ice. If he had not been successful or reacted badly to the abuse, baseball would have stayed white for several more years. He did so much more than just changing the game. Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers started the anti-segregation movement more than 15 years before segregation was officially ended in 1964.