Session Date
Lesson Topic
How Jackie Robinson Changed the World of Sports
Lesson Outline
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in the MLB. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. The Dodgers signing Robinson brought the end of racial segregation in professional baseball. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. During his 10-year MLB career, Robinson won the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award in 1947, was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954, and won the National League the MVP Award in 1949—the first black player so honored.Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers' 1955 World Series championship. In 1997, MLB retired his uniform No. 42 across all major league teams; he was the first professional athlete in any sport to be so honored. MLB also adopted a new annual tradition, "Jackie Robinson Day", for the first time on April 15, 2004, on which every player on every team wears No. 42. Robinson's character, his use of nonviolence, and his talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation that had then marked many other aspects of American life. He influenced the culture of and contributed significantly to the civil rights movement. 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. After his death in 1972, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his achievements on and off the field.
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
45
Session Hours
0.75
Hours Attended
0.75
Entry Status
Review Status
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