Jackie Robinson & His Role in the Civil Rights Movement

Some people say that Jackie Robinson was the greatest civil rights figure in American history. Others disagree. Personally, I do not believe one man should take credit for the entire civil rights movement. However, Jackie Robinson played a major role. He was able to play baseball, a sport he was very talented in and he loved to play, without having to devote his entire life to the civil rights movement. Compared to Martin Luther King who devoted his life to equality between races, who faced punishments sucha s jail, Jackie seems to be less significant. Now I hope this doesn't seem like Robinson did not face his challenges too; he had to be silent when people were screaming at him, when people were insulting him to his face, and he could not fight back. When looking at the entire civil rights movement as a whole, I just could not rank Jackie Robinson as the sole, greatest civil rights figure when so many other individuals made their own very important mark on American history as well.