VOA慢速英语 Jackie Robinson, 1919-1972: The First Black Player in Modern Major League Baseball

　　VOICE TWO:

　　Some observers said that Jackie Robinson was not the best player in the Negro Leagues. Others said that he was chosen for his communications skills and educational level and because he was an established sports star.

　　David Faulkner wrote a book about Robinson's life. It is called "Great Time Coming: The Life of Jackie Robinson from Baseball to Birmingham." In it, he talks about the end of racial divisions in baseball.

　　DAVID FAULKNER: "For many years, there had been an active campaign against segregated baseball led by Negro newspaper editors and, strangely enough, by the Communist party, which from the middle nineteen thirties on, had actively campaigned against segregated baseball. There were a number of pending bills in different legislatures challenging fair employment practices. By nineteen forty-five, there was a lot of heat in a lot of different areas -- professional baseball was certainly feeling that. Robinson in a sense was the right person at the right time."

　　VOICE ONE: