Jackie Robinson was born in 1919 in Georgia and moved to California as a child. He excelled in sports including baseball, basketball, football, and track in high school and college. After serving in the military during WWII, Robinson played in the Negro American League before joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1945, breaking the color barrier as the first African American player in Major League Baseball. Throughout his career and after retirement, Robinson helped advance racial equality and supported charitable causes.