eness provided an extra boost to the popularity of baseball. Even white fans learned to love him, his daring style of play created a whole new generation of baseball fans. Also, the sales of primarily black newspapers like the Pittsburgh-Courier skyrocketed 100,000 readers.# Jackie Robinson was rejuvenating baseball and society. It seemed as if Jackie was giving Black America a glimpse of hope. Jackie was opening doors for opportunity like no other black man ever had. But he wouldn’t stop there.After two years of keeping his mouth shut at the advice of Branch Rickey, Jackie soon began to speak out on racial issues.# His outspoken attitude and fighting spirit could no longer be held back. Jackie started to argue the umpire’s calls, publicly denouncing any hotel that would not allow him to stay there due to the color of his skin, and criticizing any team that would not hire a Negro. "The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time," and Jackie believed in this firmly.# Robinson "spoke out on almost every issue," said teammate Carl Erskine, and was receiving the attention of all of America. His refusal to accept segregation at hotels and restaurants encouraged those establishments to change their policy.# Jackie was speaking and America was finally listening. He even joined forces with some of the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s biggest leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, names like Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King Jr., looked to Jackie for support and guidance.# He started to write letters to newspapers and journals and soon took his letters to the next level. In 1957, he wrote a letter to the Presidential Assistant E. Frederick Morrow. In it he stated that the final version of the 1957 Civil Rights Act was too weak and should be changed. In 1958, during the Little Rock, Arkansas School integration conflict, Jackie wrote a letter to President Eisenhower...
