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Jackie Robinson – Civil Rights Leader Jackie Robinson was a superb athlete and succeeded at almost any sport he tried. He will be considered one the greatest athletes ever. Even though he has accomplished all this he will be known even more for advancing the quality of life for blacks and other minorities. During his superb baseball career Jackie was always involved in Civil Right matters, whenever he got a chance he was speaking out about discrimination against black and similar issues relating to equality. Robinson is usually mistakenly referred to as a conservative Republican but in reality his political views were way to complex to allow him to choose one political party over the other. Robinson’s first serious encounter with politics came in 1949 for which his actions are still criticized. That year he and Paul Robeson, who at the time along with Jackie Robinson were the two most visible and respected black celebrities made a controversial statement in a speech while they were in Paris. Robeson said something to the effect that it would be “unthinkable” for black Americans to fight in a war against Russia because blacks were treated better in Russia than they were in the United States. After that the Ho