In 1945, the United States is a Jim Crow nation. Jim Crow was a character in an old racist song, and his name has come to stand for segregation. In the South, everything is segregated: schools, buses, restaurants, hotels, theaters, restrooms, water fountains, even phone booths . The rest of the country isn't as blatant about it, but separation and prejudice exist there too. And when it comes to the national pastime—baseball— there are the major leagues, the minor leagues, and there are separate Negro leagues, for ballplayers of color. White major leaguers play in fine ballparks, travel first class, and sleep in decent hotels. Negro leaguers have no ballparks of their own, and usually get lower pay. Equipment is shabby, the travel brutal, and blacks almost always have trouble finding hotel rooms or restaurants.

One white man who understands how wrong it is to keep baseball segregated is Branch Rickey , general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. He decides he is going to change baseball. He knows it won't be easy. Fighting prejudice never is. But he is a shrewd businessman. He knows that black ballplayers are a pool of inexpensive talent, and that they play an exciting, hustling kind of baseball. Rickey knows they will bring a new audience to the majors. Later he says, "I was convinced that there was a timelessness about it. After waiting a hundred years, these people were legally free, not spiritually free, never morally free. And I felt that if the right man ... with ability on the field and with control of himself off the field, if I could find that kind of a man, the American public would accept him."

And then Branch Rickey finds Jack Roosevelt Robinson, just the man he is looking for . Jackie Robinson earned letters in four sports at UCLA. He did well in school. And he has always stood up for his beliefs. As an officer in the army, Robinson refused to move when a driver asked him to sit in the back of a bus. Rickey is impressed. He invites Robinson to New York and tells him he wants him to break baseball's color line. But he has to promise to hold his temper and not to fight back, no matter what happens. Robinson has never backed away from a fight. He knows that if someone insults him it will be very difficult to turn the other cheek. But he is going to do something bigger than anything he's done before; it is more important than his feelings. It is for his people and for all people. Jackie agrees. He says "I am ... delighted with my contract and I'll certainly do my best on the field." And Branch Rickey answers, "I'm very sure you will."

On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson bats in Brooklyn for the first time as a major leaguer. Then, when the Dodgers visit Philadelphia, things turn ugly. The Phillies' manager, Ben Chapman, spews hate language at Robinson and encourages his players to do the same. The abuse isn't all verbal. Runners begin sliding into Jackie and cutting him with their spikes; pitchers throw at his head. But Robinson keeps his word , as Rickey explains, "No player in the history of baseball, I think, was ever subjected to such vile baiting from opposite benches, the basely unkind criticisms in print. He played admirably in spite of it all. He really turned the other cheek. He is a credit to baseball, and to America."

In his rookie season, Jackie Robinson finishes first in the league in stolen bases and second in runs scored. He ties for the team lead in home runs. In September, the Dodgers win the National League pennant. After this, Robinson no longer has to keep quiet, and he doesn't. He has won the affection and respect of his fellow ballplayers and of the nation. He was first; he took the punishment; he made it easier for those who followed. Baseball was now the national pastime for all the people.