It is both an important time of year and an important time in American society to honor one of our great heroes with a four-hour Jackie Robinson new film dedicated to the life, struggles and triumphs of Jackie Robinson.

In four hours, over two nights, discover the story of Jack Roosevelt Robinson, who rose from humble origins to break baseball’s color barrier in 1947 and waged a fierce lifelong battle for first-class citizenship for all African Americans that transcends even his remarkable athletic achievements.

Jackie Robinson, a two-part, four-hour film directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and David McMahon tells the story of an American icon whose life-long battle for first class citizenship for all African Americans transcends even his remarkable athletic achievements. “Jackie Robinson,” Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “was a sit-inner before sit-ins, a freedom rider before freedom rides.”

A fierce integrationist, Robinson used his immense fame to speak out against the discrimination he saw on and off the field, angering fans, the press, and even teammates who had once celebrated him for “turning the other cheek.” After baseball, he was a widely-read newspaper columnist, divisive political activist and tireless advocate for civil rights, who later struggled to remain relevant as diabetes crippled his body and a new generation of leaders set a more militant course for the civil rights movement.

Join us and enjoy Jackie Robinson—starting tonight on Detroit Public Television, www.dptv.org at 9 p.m.