Jackie Robinson

BLACK PAST PHOTO OF THE DAY: If you liked last week's writeup about Charles Follis (the first African American signed to a pro football contract), wait till you see what we've got for you today about Jackie Robinson. Ten years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a public bus, in July 1944,

Jackie Robinson — who was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army — was ordered to move further back in a bus he had boarded with a fellow officer's caucasian wife. Robinson refused and was ultimately removed from the bus under his own power by military police who took him into custody for questioning. Later, when Robinson heatedly confronted an investigating officer about racial epithets used in his questioning, the officer recommended Robinson be court-martialed. After his commander in the 761st 'Black Panthers' Tank Battalion refused to authorize that legal action, Robinson was transferred to another battalion, where his new commander consented to charge him with multiple offenses, including public drunkenness, even though he didn't drink. By the time of his court-martial one month later, the charges against Robinson had been reduced to two counts of insubordination, and he was acquitted of all charges by an all-white panel of officers.