For a brief moment on the evening of April 8, 1974, Atlanta Braves slugger Henry Aaron watched with wonder as the baseball he had just driven toward the brooding, Atlanta sky disappeared over Fulton County Stadium’s left-field wall. The proud, stoic outfielder did not normally admire his home runs, but this one was unique: this was home run number 715–the historic shot that broke Babe Ruth’s much-revered home-run record that had stood for 39 years. When Aaron, bearing an uncharacteristic grin of satisfaction, touched home plate moments later after rounding the bases, nearly 54,000 Braves fans erupted in frenzied delight.

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Not every baseball fan reveled in Aaron’s milestone, however. Many white fans were affronted by the notion that a black man could eclipse the record held by their beloved, immortal Ruth. In fact, the smile that blanketed Aaron’s face as he concluded his landmark home-run trot was born as much from relief as from satisfaction. The previous year, as he crept ever closer to the record, had been a private purgatory for Aaron. During that trying 1973 season, he received thousands of mean-spirited letters, some of them vicious and laced with death threats. Guards had to escort him from stadiums; he had even feared for his children’s safety. But through it all, Aaron had kept his emotions to himself, letting his bat do his talking; it was a policy he had followed throughout his career.

Born in Mobile, Alabama, on February 5, 1934, Aaron honed his skills on the area’s rough fields and baseball diamonds. By the age of 17, his hitting prowess had earned him a spot with the famed Negro Leagues’ Indianapolis Clowns, as well as the attention of numerous professional scouts. In 1953, Aaron won the Most Valuable Player award while helping to integrate the Class A South Atlantic League, and the following spring, he reached the majors with the then-Milwaukee Braves.

Seven seasons had passed since Jackie Robinson had broken baseball’s color line, and Henry was among a second wave of black ballplayers who played their way onto major-league rosters. Significantly, the Civil Rights Movement began in earnest that same year, inspired by the Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas Supreme Court case, which overturned the legality of’separate but equal standards across the country.

Baseball may have become society’s vanguard in the war against racial segregation, but as Aaron experienced, many doors still remained, both literally and figuratively, closed to black ballplayers. Robinson had proven that success on the base paths helped to silence the abusers and to quash prejudice on and off the field, and Aaron wasted no time making his mark. In 1957, Hank, as he had been dubbed by the Braves’ publicity director, Donald Davidson, during his rookie campaign, was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player. He was on his way to arguably the greatest career of any baseball player. Over the course of 23 seasons, he would set astonishing new records–for home runs, 755; runs batted in (RBI), 2,297; total bases, 6,856–and add two batting titles, four RBI crowns, and 24 all-star-game performances to his unparalleled résumé.

Today, 15 years after being elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame, Henry Aaron is the Atlanta Braves’ senior vice president and assistant to the president (Stan Kasten), and often represents the organization in community relations activities. In the following interview, Aaron discusses the impact Jackie Robinson had on his career, and also recounts some of the trials he and other black ballplayers faced in crossing the color line.

AMERICAN HISTORY: As a young black ballplayer, what was your reaction when you learned of Jackie Robinson signing with the Dodgers?

HENRY AARON: Well, I guess it was kind of like putting it in the same perspective as the signing of the bill that ended discrimination as far as drinking fountains and railroads and bath facilities, and things like that. Kind of taking a burden off your back, when you felt like Jackie Robinson had done something to give every black kid a chance to live his dream.

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