Roberto Clemente was a black Puerto Rican baseball player who joined a Major League Baseball team in the 1950s. In big-league American baseball at that time, there were very few black players and almost none who were Spanish-speaking. Because of this, Americans didn’t know how to react to Clemente. Clemente’s Puerto Rican culture was unfamiliar to most Americans. Over his career, Clemente became an all-star player who led his team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, to two World Series victories. He also helped introduce his culture to America.

In this lesson, you will explore how Americans’ reaction to Clemente changed as America itself changed.