The Color of Law A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (z-lib.org).epub

† At the end of World War II, dishonorable discharges were issued to African American soldiers at
nearly twice the rate of white soldiers. In 1944 Jackie Robinson was arrested and tried in a general
court-martial when he was an army lieutenant stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. His crime was refusing to
move to the segregated section of a bus. Robinson, who three years later would be the first African
American to play major league baseball, was already nationally known as an athlete, and the army
might have feared arousing unrest in the African American community if he were convicted. Also,
during his trial, the army finally prohibited segregation on buses that transported soldiers. Probably for
both of these reasons, he was not convicted. Had Robinson been dishonorably discharged, the
Brooklyn Dodgers would undoubtedly have refused to hire him, and the trajectory of civil rights in the
twentieth century would have been retarded, at least.