BLACK ATHLETES IN SPORTS

Before icons, there had to be those who paved the way. They are the ones we should thank for the stars of today and yesteryear. These men faced extreme racism and adversity so that people of today would know such athletes as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Jim brown.
Jackie Robinson broke major league baseball's color barrier over 50 years ago, but he wasn't the first black to play in the majors. In 1884, the Toledo Blue Stockings of the American Association had two black players: Moses Fleetwood Walker and his brother Welday. Although Welday appeared in just five games, Moses shared catching duties, playing in 42 games and batting .263. Both players were gone the next year and no black appeared in organized baseball again until 1946, when Robinson first played for the Brooklyn Dodgers' Montreal farm team. A year later, he moved into the majors with the Dodgers.
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was the first player to break Major League Baseball's color barrier. Born in Cairo, Georgia, to...