You've heard about the troubles Jackie Robinson faced when he integrated major league baseball in 1947. He heroically stood up to death threats, physical assaults and racial slurs.
In segregated America, many people deplored the idea of a black man on the same field as white ballplayers. Sadly, these people included several of Robinson's own teammates. They signed a petition to keep him off the Brooklyn Dodgers because of his skin color.
That's the tale detailed in the recent hit movie 42. But there's a footnote to the story that's not so well known, with a happier message about race relations. It all starts in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1954, when an 8-year-old boy wrote Robinson a letter that somehow caught his attention.
Check out this remarkable bit of Badger history in this audio piece, which originally aired on Wisconsin Public Radio's Wisconsin Life.
