On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson was signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball’s color line.

Branch Rickey: Baseball’s Ferocious Gentleman
By Lee Lowenfish

Branch Rickey, the Dodgers’ manager at the time, was brave enough to sign Robinson.

Blackout:
The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Spring Training
By Chris Lamb

A Year earlier, Robinson trained in segregated Florida while he was a prospect for the team Montreal Royals.

Extra Bases:
Reflections on Jackie Robinson, Race, and Baseball History
By Jules Tygiel

"[T]he essays about Jackie Robinson and Jim Crow baseball, Tygiel’s specialities, are small gems that are worth the price of this relatively inexpensive paperback."–Library Journal.

Out of the Shadows:
African American Baseball from the
Cuban Giants to Jackie Robinson
Edited and with an introduction by Bill Kirwin

An selection of essays from NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture regarding African Americans in baseball from the late nineteenth through the early twentieth centuries.