Five years before he broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball, Jackie Robinson was drafted into the military. He received his notice on April 3, 1942, just a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor propelled the United States into World War II. He joined an all-Black unit stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, and was later transferred to Fort Hood, Texas. There, racial segregation was strictly enforced despite Executive Order 8802, which was issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to ban discriminatory practices in federal agencies and organizations contributing to the war effort. 

This ban was put to the test on July 6, 1944, when Robinson refused to move to the back of a bus in Fort Hood. He faced six charges at a subsequent court-martial, which he believed was racially motivated. In his autobiography, Robinson wrote that his lawyer “summed up the case beautifully by telling the board that this was not a case involving any violation of the Articles of War, or even of military tradition, but simply a situation in which a few individuals sought to vent their bigotry on a Negro they considered ‘uppity’ because he had the audacity to exercise rights that belonged to him as an American and a soldier.” 

The nine combat officers who comprised the court acquitted Robinson of all charges. The ballplayer received an honorable discharge four months later.