Today In Labor History April 11, 1947: Jackie Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first black baseball player to play in the major leagues.
Today in Labor History March 21, 1946: The Los Angeles Rams signed Kenny Washington, the first professional African American football player in the U.S. since 1933. His father played baseball in the negro leagues. His uncle was the first black lieutenant in the LAPD. In college, he played both baseball and football. He was a teammate of Jackie Robinson’s at UCLA. Many people thought he was a better baseball player than Robinson. Leo Durocher supposedly offered him a contract to play major league baseball, but only if he played in Puerto Rico first, which Washington refused to do.