Editing Baseball color line (section)

=== Paul Robeson ===
A former athlete himself, [[Paul Robeson]] was an American political activist who advocated for desegregation in all aspects of American life, including but not limited to the integration of Major League Baseball.<ref name=":3">Smith, Ronald A. (1979). "The Paul Robeson—Jackie Robinson Saga and a Political Collision". ''Journal of Sport History''. '''6''' (2): 5–27. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0094-1700.</ref><ref>Dreier, Peter (2023). "Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson: The Misunderstood Relationship Between These Activist Athletes". ''NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture''. '''32''' (2): 80–96. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1353/nin.2023.a914848. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 1534-1844.</ref><ref name=":4">Fetter, Henry D. (2001). "The Party Line and the Color Line: The American Communist Party, the "Daily Worker", and Jackie Robinson". ''Journal of Sport History''. '''28''' (3): 375–402. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0094-1700.</ref> Robeson was a part of the December 1943 meeting with MLB Commissioner [[Kenesaw Mountain Landis]] to appeal for the breaking of the color line in professional baseball.<ref name=":4" /> He publicly argued that the single greatest burden that the United States carried was its policy of racial discrimination.<ref>Thomas, Damion (2007-02). "Let the games begin: Sport, U.S. race relations and Cold War politics". ''The International Journal of the History of Sport''. '''24''' (2): 157–171. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1080/09523360601045773. [[ISSN (identifier)|ISSN]] 0952-3367</ref>

Despite his staunch support for integration, Robeson faced huge criticism from many of his peers for holding communist sympathies.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /> [[Jackie Robinson]] was one large critic of Robeson’s political ties and played a significant role in his exit from the public eye.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />  [[Bill Mardo]], a writer for the ''Daily Worker'' and activist who helped integrate professional baseball, reportedly admonished Robinson for his lack of gratitude towards Robeson's efforts to break the color line and concluded at the time that the Brooklyn Dodger's, "memory is short indeed."<ref name=":4" />