Imagine having to protest for your right to be admitted into Officer Candidate School.

When that conflict is resolved, you become a second lieutenant in the Army. But then, on an Army bus, you confront the Army Bus driver for telling you you have to sit in the back. The military police takes you into custody. You complain about the questioning and an officers recommends you be court-martialed.

You are transferred to a different Battalion where the commander charges you with several offenses including public drunkenness. But you don’t even drink. Thankfully, months later, you are acquitted.

You leave the Army and play baseball in the minor leagues. But you are not allowed to stay with your teammates. Still, you prove yourself – big time.

On this day in 1947, you are signed to a major league team- the Dodgers. During one game, the manager of another team yells “go back to the cotton fields.”

And something strange happens. Your teammates stick up for you. Then, in 1962, you are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

Way to go, Jackie Robinson!