Jackie Robinson is famous for being the first African American Major League Baseball player. There was someone before him though. Moses Fleetwood Walker was born on October 7, 1856 in Mount Pleasant, Ohio.
Aside from being a baseball player, he was also an author and inventor. He was recruited by the University of Michigan and began playing on their baseball team in 1882. In 1883, he signed with the minor league team the Toledo Blue Stockings. Then in 1884, he joined the American League and thereby became the first African American to play major league baseball.
His brother, Welday Walker, later joined the American League and played six games. He was the next known African American to play Major League Baseball. In 1889, the League erected a color barrier for the next 60 years.