Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era. He started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947, ending a segregation that had kept Black players in the Negro leagues since the 1880s. Before baseball he was a star athlete at UCLA, and while serving in the Army during the Second World War he was court-martialled for refusing to move to the back of a segregated bus, though he was later honourably discharged. Branch Rickey, the Dodgers' general manager, chose him to break the colour line because of his character as well as his talent. Robinson won the first Rookie of the Year award in 1947 and the 1949 National League MVP. He used nonviolence to confront discrimination and later worked on civil rights and in business. Major League Baseball retired his number 42 across all teams in 1997.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.