Breaking the Colour Barrier in Sports

In 1947, Jackie Robinson became the first Black man in History to play Major League Baseball. Before the Brooklyn Dodgers signed him from the Kansas City Monarchs, of the Negro League. Breaking down the colour wall was GM of the Dodgers Branch Rickey. Branch Rickey was an innovator when it came to breaking the colour barrier and, rather predictably, faced a lot of opposition from people around the league. While he knew that Robinson would face racism in the major leagues, Rickey knew that it had to happen to win in Baseball.
However, Jackie was not the first Black athlete to play in a major American league. In 1946, Bill Willis became one of the first Black athletes to play in the NFL. Along with Willis, Marion Motley, Kenny Washington (the first to sign a contract with an NFL team) and Woody Strode also signed to the league in 1946, breaking down the colour barrier in the NFL.
In 1950, the colour barrier was broken in the NBA. Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Nat 'Sweetwater' Clifton (the first to sign a contract with a team) were signed to teams in the NBA. Breaking the final barrier in the 'Major' American leagues.
Perhaps though, Jackie Robinson is the best known of those that broke the barrier. This is probably because he was the only true one of these players that became a success on their respective leagues. Or at least, had the most success. Nat Clifton had some success in the NBA for the New York Knicks, becoming an all-star in 1957. But Jackie Robinson was voted the rookie of the year, as well as winning the Major league championship and becoming a multi time all star. He has gone down as one of the best to ever play the game, not just known for breaking the colour barrier, but for being a great success in the league.

I feel this is an important area to study in the course because it has played such a large part in the history of the American sports they played in. Its also a major part in the civil rights movement. Although they all faced blatant and expected racism, they persevered and won through. While some of their careers were short, the impact and significance of them were major and changed the face of sports. By being on the major stage they may have helped people accept them more, creating sympathy among many that didn't have sympathy before. By playing for major teams they were likely on teams that were cheered for and may have been cheered for themselves by White people. Which was a major thing in the 1940's and 50's.