Jack Johnson (boxer)

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John Arthur Johnson (March 31, 1878 - June 10, 1946), nicknamed Galveston Giant , is an American boxer who, at the height of the Jim Crow era, became the first heavyweight champion of Africa America (1908-1915). Among the most dominant champions of the period, Johnson remained a boxing legend, with his battle against James J. Jeffries in 1910 dubbed the "battle of the century". According to filmmaker Ken Burns, "for over thirteen years, Jack Johnson is the most famous and most famous African-American man on Earth". Beyond boxing, it becomes part of the culture and history of racism in America.

In 1912, Johnson opened a successful and lavish "black and brown" nightclub and restaurant, partly run by his wife, a white woman. The main newspaper at the time claimed that Johnson was attacked by the government only after he became famous as a black man who married a white woman, and was linked with other white women. Johnson was arrested on charges of violating Mann Law - forbidding someone to transport a cross-country woman for "immoral purposes" - a racially motivated charge involving her in controversy for her relationship, including marriage, to white women. There are also allegations of domestic violence. Sentenced to one year in prison, Johnson fled the country and fought off boxing abroad for seven years until 1920 when he served his sentence at a federal prison at Levenworth. Johnson was posthumously pardoned by President Donald Trump in May 2018, 105 years after his conviction.

Johnson continued to fight for years, and operated several other businesses, including a lucrative support deal. Johnson died in a car accident on June 10, 1946, at the age of 68. He is buried at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago.

Video Jack Johnson (boxer)

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Johnson was born third child of nine, and first son, Henry and Tina Johnson, two former slaves who work blue collar as janitors and dishwashers. His father, Henry, worked as a civilian soldier at the 38th Union's Colored Infantry. Jack once said that his father was "the most perfect physical specimen he had ever seen", even though his father was only 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) and left with his right leg stop growing from his service in war.

Growing up in Galveston, Texas, Johnson attended five years of school. Like all of his siblings, Jack is expected to work.

Although Johnson grew up in the South, he said separation was no problem in the rather isolated town of Galveston, as all those living in the 12th Galveston Ward were poor and struggled the same. Johnson recalls growing up with a "gang" of white boys, in which he never felt victimized or excluded. Remembering his childhood, Johnson said: "When I grew up, white kids were my friends and friends I ate with them, played with them and slept in their homes, their mothers gave me cookies, and I eat at their table.Nobody ever taught me that white people are superior to me. "

Johnson is a weak young man.

After Johnson quit school, he started working at the local pier. He made several other attempts to do other jobs around the city until one day he went to Dallas, finding work on a race track that trained horses. Jack is stuck with this job until he finds a new apprentice for a carriage painter by the name of Walter Lewis. Lewis enjoys watching his friends argue, and Johnson starts learning how to pack a box. Johnson later claimed that it was thanks to Lewis that he became a boxer.

At 16, Johnson moved to Manhattan and found a living arrangement with Barbados Joe Walcott, a welterweight fighter from the West Indies. Johnson re-invented the horse train work for the local coop, until he was fired for wearying a horse. Immediately looking for a job as a janitor for a fitness center owned by a German heavyweight born in Herman Berneau, Johnson finally put aside enough money to buy two pairs of boxing gloves, fight every chance he gets.

Upon his return from Manhattan, Johnson had a fight with Davie Pearson. Johnson remembers Pearson as an "adult and tough" man who accuses Johnson of handing him over to the police on dice games. When both are released from prison, they meet at the dock and Johnson defeats Pearson before the big crowd. Johnson fought in the summer league against a man named John "Must Have It" Lee. Since the prize battle was illegal in Texas, the fight broke out and moved to the beach where Johnson won his first fight and prize a dollar and fifty cents.

Maps Jack Johnson (boxer)

Early boxing career

Johnson debuted as a professional boxer on November 1, 1898, in Galveston, Texas, when he defeated Charley Brooks in the second round of a 15-round fight for what was billed as "The Texas State Middleweight Title". In his third pro combat on May 8, 1899, he fought against "Klondike" (John W. Haynes or Haines), an African American heavyweight known as "The Black Hercules", in Chicago. Klondike (referred to as he is considered rare, like gold in Klondike), who has declared himself as "Black Heavyweight Champ", won on a technical knockout (TKO) in the fifth round of the scheduled six-round. The two fighters met again in 1900, with the first contest producing a draw when the two fighters stood at the end of 20 rounds. Johnson won the second bout by TKO when Klondike refused to go out for the 14th round. Johnson does not claim an unknown Klondike title.

Joe Choynski

On 25 February 1901, Johnson fought Joe Choynski in Galveston. Choynski, a popular and experienced heavyweight, beat Johnson in the third round. Prizefighting was illegal in Texas at the time and they were both arrested. The security deposit is set at $ 5,000 that you can not afford. The sheriff allowed both fighters to go home at night as soon as they agreed to argue inside the jail cell. Big crowds gather to watch sessions. After 23 days in prison, their guarantees are reduced to an affordable rate and grand jury refuses to indict either men. However, Johnson later stated that he learned boxing skills during prison time. Both will remain friends.

Johnson proved that his success in boxing came from the training he received from Choynski. The elder Choynski saw the natural talent and resolve at Johnson and taught him the nuances of defense, stating "A man who can move like you should not have to take a blow".

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Boxing style

Throughout his career Johnson built his own unique fighting style, which is unusual for boxing so far. Although Jack usually attacks first, he will fight defensively, waiting for his opponents tired, while being more aggressive as the lap continues. He often fights to punish his opponents through rounds rather than drop them, and will continue to avoid their blows. He then quickly strikes back with his own blow. Jack often makes his fights look easy, and as if he has more to offer, but when encouraged he can also feature some powerful movements and blows. There are films of his fights in which he can be seen lifting his opponent, who may have fallen, until he recovers. His style of playing with his opponents is very effective, but his style is also criticized by the press as a cowardly combat approach. In contrast, heavyweight world champion "Gentleman" Jim Corbett has used many of the same techniques a decade earlier, and was hailed by the press as "the smartest man in boxing".

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Top challengers

Johnson defeated former heavyweight black champion Frank Childs on October 21, 1902. Childs has twice won a black heavyweight title and continues to claim himself a true black champion despite losing his title in a fight with George Byers and then, having reclaimed the title from Byers, that's again to Denver Ed Martin. He still pretends to be a black champion and claims an unknown black heavyweight title as well. Johnson was won by the TKO in the 12th round of the scheduled 20-rounder, when Childs's seconds signaled he could not continue. (He claims that he has dislocated his elbow.) Defeat by Johnson forever ends Childs pretense to the black heavyweight crown.

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World heavyweight champion

In 1903, despite Johnson's official record showing him with nine wins against three defeats, five draws and two no contests, he has won at least 50 fights against both white and black opponents. Johnson won his first title on 3 February 1903, beating Denver's Ed Martin on points in a 20-round match for the World Colored Heavyweight Championship. Johnson held the title until it was emptied when he won the world heavyweight title from Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia on Boxing Day 1908. His reign of 2,151 days was the third longest in the 60-year history of the length of the color heavyweight title. Only Harry Wills in 3,103 days and Peter Jackson in 3,041 days holds the title longer. A three-color heavyweight champion, Wills holds the title for a total of 3,351 days.

Johnson retained the 17-times heavyweight title, the second after 26-time Wills defended the title. While a colorful champion, he defeated former Denver color champions Ed Martin and Frank Childs again and defeated future heavyweight champion Sam McVey three times and Sam Langford once. He beat Langford with 15-rounder points and never gave him another chance in the title, either when he was a world champion or heavyweight champion.

Johnson, Jeanette, and Langford

Johnson fought Joe Jeanette a total of seven times, all during his reign as a colored champion before he became heavyweight world champion, won four times and drew twice (three wins and one draw was newspaper). In their first game in 1905, they had fought for a draw, but in their second game on 25 November 1905, Johnson lost because he was disqualified in the second round of a scheduled six-round fight. Johnson continues to claim titles due to disqualification.

After Johnson became the first African-American Heavyweight Champion in the World on December 26, 1908, his World Colored Heavy Class Championship was emptied. Jeanette fought Sam McVey to a title in Paris on February 20, 1909 and was beaten, but then took the title of McVey in a 49-round bout on April 17 that year in Paris for $ 6,000. Sam Langford later claimed his title during Jeanette's reign after Johnson refused to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against him. Eighteen months later, Jeanette lost the title to Langford.

During his reign as world champion, Johnson never again fought against Jeanette despite many challenges and avoided Langford, who won a record-breaking five-time title. Johnson had a fight with Langford when he was a colored champion and beat him with 15-rounder points.

On November 27, 1945, Johnson finally stepped back into the ring with Joe Jeanette. Johnson, 67, faces 66-year-old Jeanette at an exhibition held at the New York City rally to sell war bonds. Fellow former heavyweight champion Harry Wills also participated in the exhibition.

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World heavyweight champion

Johnson's efforts to win the world heavyweight title were thwarted, as world heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries refused to face him. Black boxers can meet white boxers in other competitions, but the world heavyweight championships are off limits to them.

However, Johnson did not fight former champion Bob Fitzsimmons in July 1907, and dropped him in two rounds. There are reports that Johnson even quarreled and KO'd brother Jim Jeffries, and taunted him about it to force a fight, with no results.

Johnson eventually won the world heavyweight title on December 26, 1908, a full six years after lightweight champion Joe Gans became the first African American boxing champion. Johnson's victory over ruling world champion Canada Tommy Burns, in Sydney, Australia, came after trailing Burns around the world for two years and taunted him in the press for the match. It is believed that Burns agreed to fight Johnson only after the promoter secured him $ 30,000. The fight lasted fourteen rounds before being stopped by police in front of more than 20,000 spectators. Title given to Johnson over the decision of the referee.

After Johnson's victory over Burns, racial animosity among white men ran so deep that it was called for "Great White Hope" to win the title from Johnson. While Johnson is a heavyweight champion, he gets more pressure from all the other famous blacks. The start of the fight was peppered with a racist press against Johnson. Even the New York Times wrote of the event, "If blacks win, thousands and thousands of unknowing brothers will misinterpret their victory as justifying claims beyond physical equality with their white neighbors. "As a title holder, Johnson thus had to face a series of fighters each billed by the boxing promoter as" big white hope ", often in an exhibition match.In 1909, he defeated Tony Ross, Al Kaufman and middle-class champion Stanley Ketchel.

The match with Ketchel was initially considered an exhibition, and in actuality the fight was fought by both men, until the 12th round, when Ketchel threw his right head to Johnson's head, knocking him down. Quickly regaining his legs, and very annoyed, Johnson ran straight to Ketchell and threw a single punch, a blow up, a very famous blow, into Ketchel's jaw, knocking him over. The blow crushed Ketchell's front teeth; Johnson can be seen on the film removing it from his glove, where they have been embedded.

In 1910, former undisputed heavyweight champion James J. Jeffries came out of retirement to challenge Johnson. He has never fought in six years and must lose more than 100 pounds to return to the weight of his battle. Initially Jeffries was not interested in the fight, quite happy as an alfalfa farmer. But people who want to see Johnson beat Jeffries mercilessly for months, and offer an unheard amount of money, which is considered to be about $ 120,000 (equivalent to $ 3.2 million in 2017) which he finally received without protest.

Jeffries remained largely hidden from media attention until the day of the fight, while Johnson absorbed the spotlight. John L. Sullivan, who made the boxing championship as a popular and honorable spectacle, stated that Johnson had a good physical form compared to Jeffries he could eliminate only if he had less skill on that day. Before the fight, Jeffries commented, "It is my intention to go right after my opponent and get rid of him as soon as possible." While his wife added, "I'm not interested in gifts, but I am interested in my husband's welfare, I hope this will be his last fight." Johnson's words are "May the best man win."

Racial tensions appear ahead of the fight and to prevent damage to boxers, weapons are banned in arenas such as the sale of alcohol and anyone under the influence of alcohol. Behind the racial stance triggered by the media is a big investment in gambling to fight 10-7 opportunities for Jeffries.

The fight took place on July 4, 1910, in front of 20,000 people, in a ring built only for events in downtown Reno, Nevada. Jeffries proved unable to impose his will on young champions and Johnson dominated the fight. In the 15th round, after Jeffries was defeated twice for the first time in his career, Jeffries threw a towel to end the fight and prevent Jeffries from doing a knockout on his record. Johnson later commented that he knew the fight was over in the 4th round when he got hit hard and saw the expression on Jeffries face, stating, "I know what that means. The old ship drowned." After that, Jeffries was degraded by the loss and what he saw from Johnson in their match. "I will never whip Johnson in my best condition," said Jeffries. "I can not hit him.No, I can not reach him in 1,000 years."

"Fight of the Century" earned Johnson $ 65,000 (over $ 1.7 million in 2017 dollars) and silenced the critics, who had belittled Johnson's previous victory over Tommy Burns as "empty", claiming that Burns was a fake champion since Jeffries had unbeatable pension. John L. Sullivan commented after the bout that Johnson won properly, justly and convincingly:

This century battle is over and a black man is an undisputed world champion. It was a terrible battle during a fight, this was less than 15 rounds between James J. Jeffries and Jack Johnson. There is hardly a weighty contest. All of Jeffry's praiseworthy conditions mean nothing. He was not in it from the first bell until the last... The Negro had some friends, but there was little demonstration against him. (Audience) can not help but admire Johnson because he is the type of prizefighter that is admired by the sportsman. He played enough all the time and fought fairly.... The cunning, powerful, and cunning hands, the left hand (Johnson) has. He is one of the brightest and brightest boxers ever to step into the ring.... They both fought for 15 rounds. It was just the kind of fight Jeffries wanted. No running or ducking as Corbett did with me in New Orleans (1892). Jeffries did not miss so many blows, because he barely started. Johnson was always on it all the time.... (Johnson) did not get gay at all with Jeffries at first, and always whites who grabbed him, but Johnson was very cautious, and he backed away and took no risk, and kind with it all... The best wins, and I was one of the first to congratulate him, and also one of the first to express my heartfelt sympathy to the beaten man.

Riot and after

The result of the fight triggered the night race riots - Fourth of July - across the United States, from Texas and Colorado to New York and Washington, DC Johnson's victory over Jeffries has destroyed the white dream of finding "great white hope" to defeat him. Many white people feel humiliated by Jeffries' defeat.

Blacks on the other hand cheered and celebrated Johnson's great victory as a victory for racial advancement. The black poet William Waring Cuney then highlights the black reaction to the fight in his poem, "My Lord, What's Morning"? Across the country, blacks held spontaneous rallies and gathered in prayer meetings.

Race riots erupted in New York, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Atlanta, St. Louis, Little Rock, and Houston. Overall, unrest occurred in more than 25 states and 50 cities. At least twenty people were killed in the US from the riots, and hundreds more were injured.

Movies about the fight

The Johnson-Jeffries Fight film received more public attention in the United States than any other movie to date and over the next five years, until the release of The Birth of a Nation.

In the United States, many states and cities banned the Johnson-Jeffries film show. The movement to censor Johnson's victory took over the country within three days of the fight. It is a spontaneous movement. Two weeks after the game of former President Theodore Roosevelt, a boxer and fanatical fan, wrote an article for Outlook where he endorsed the ban not only transferring the picture of boxing matches, but a complete ban on all prize battles in America. He cited "crookedness" and gambling around such contests and moving pictures have "introduced new methods of earning money and demoralization". The controversy surrounding the film directly motivated Congress to ban the distribution of all cross-country prizefight films in 1912; the ban was lifted in 1940.

In 2005, Jeffries-Johnson's "Fight of the Century" film was included in the US National Film List as eligible for maintenance.

The six fights in which major films were made, starring Johnson, were:

• Johnson-Burns (movie released in 1908)
• Johnson-Ketchel (movie released in 1909)
• Johnson-Jeffries (film released in 1910)
• Johnson-Flynn (movie released in 1912)
• Johnson-Moran (movie released in 1914)
• Johnson-Willard (film released in 1915)

Maintaining the color bar

The color bar remains valid even under Johnson. Once he was a world heavyweight champion, Johnson did not fight a black opponent during the first five years of his reign. He denied the match for black heavyweight Joe Jeanette (one of his successors as a colorful heavyweight champion), Sam Langford (who beat Jeanette for the colored titles), and the young Harry Wills, a heavyweight champion during the final year of Johnson's reign as heavyweight champion world.

Blacks are not given a chance at a suspected title because Johnson feels that he can make more money against a white boxer. In August 1913, when Johnson approached the end of his troubled reign as world heavyweight champion, there was a rumor that he had agreed to fight Langford in Paris for that title, but it was in vain. Johnson said that Langford could not collect $ 30,000 for his bail.

Because the black boxer with the exception of Johnson has been banned for a heavyweight championship because of racism, Johnson's refusal to fight African-Americans offends the African-American community, as the chance to fight a white-boxer is rare. Jeanette criticized Johnson, saying, "Jack forgot about his old friends after he became a champion and drew a color line against his own people."

Johnson v. Johnson

When Johnson finally agreed to face a black opponent at the end of 1913, it was not for Sam Langford, the current heavyweight champion, whom he named the shots. Instead, Johnson chose Battling Jim Johnson, a lesser boxer who, in 1910, had lost to Langford and had a draw and a loss through a knockout for Sam McVey, a former colorful champion. Battling Jim fought former champion Joe Jeanette four times between 19 July 1912 and 21 January 1913 and lost in four fights. The only recorder he defeated in that period was the future colored champion Big Bill Tate, whom he KO-ed in the second round of a scheduled 10-round bout. It was Tate's third pro fight.

In November 1913, the International Boxing Union announced the world-class heavyweight title held by Jack Johnson to be empty. The fight, which is scheduled for 10 rounds, was held on 19 December 1913 in Paris. This is the first time in history that two blacks have fought for the world heavyweight championship.

While the battle of Johnson v. Johnson has been billed as a world heavyweight title game, in many ways, it's similar to an exhibition. A sports writer from the Indianapolis Star in the fight reported that the crowd became disorganized when it was clear that the boxer was not fighting.

Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion, and Battling Jim Johnson, another colorful pugilist, from Galveston, Texas, met in a 10-round contest here tonight, which ended in a draw. The audience was loudly protesting as long as the people did not fight, and demanded their money back. Many of them left the hall. The battle organizers explained the failure by asserting that Jack Johnson's left hand was broken in the third round. There was no confirmation from the report that Jack Johnson was stabbed and there was no evidence in the ring in such an accident. During the first three rounds he clearly played with his opponent. Afterwards it was observed that he only used his right hand. When the fight was over, he complained of his injured arm. The examining physician, certified with a slight fracture of the left arm fingers. The common opinion is that his arm was injured in wrestling matches earlier in the week, and that this night's blow caused bone fracture.

Due to a draw, Jack Johnson retained his championship. After the fight, he explains that his left arm was injured in the third round and he can not use it.

Lost title

On April 5, 1915, Johnson lost his title to Jess Willard, a working cowboy from Kansas who started boxing when he was twenty-seven years old. With 25,000 spectators at Park Oriental Racecourse in Havana, Cuba, Johnson was knocked out in the 26th round of 45 scheduled laps. Johnson, despite having won almost every round, got tired after the 20th round, and was looked hurt by Willard's heavy blows in round before knockout in the 26th round.

Johnson is said by many to have spread rumors that he was doing the diving, but Willard is widely considered to have won the battle directly. Many people think Johnson deliberately throws a fight because of white Willard, in an effort to keep his Mann Act costs down. Willard said, "If he's going to fight, I hope he does it earlier, it's hotter than out there."

Post-Championship

After losing his world heavyweight championship, Johnson never again fought for a heavyweight colored crown. His popularity remained pretty strong which he recorded for Ajax Records in the 1920s. Johnson continues to fight, but his age has overtaken him. He fought professionally until 1938 at the age of 60 when he lost 7 of his last 9 fights, losing his final battle with Walter Price by TKO round 7. It is often recommended that any attack after the age of 40 - which is a very noble age for boxing in those days - not counted on the actual record, as he appears to earn a living. He is also involved in what is known as a "dungeon" battle, where attacks, not advertised, are contested for private audience, usually in the crypt, or other unknown places. There are photographs in one of these fights. Johnson made his final ring appearance at the age of 67 on November 27, 1945, playing three rounds of one minute exhibition against two opponents, Joe Jeanette and John Ballcort, in a benefit battle card for US War Bonds.

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Personal life

Johnson gets a huge amount of support for various products, including patent medicines, and has some expensive pastimes like auto racing and customized clothing, as well as purchasing jewelry and feathers for his wife. He challenged champion racer Barney Oldfield to a car racing game on Sheepshead Bay, the Brooklyn dirt track. Oldfield easily away from Johnson. Once, when he was pulled over to get a $ 50 ticket, he gave the officer $ 100; When the officer protested that he could not make that much change, Johnson told him to keep making changes because he would travel back at the same speed. In 1920, Johnson opened a nightclub in Harlem; he sold it three years later to a gangster, Owney Madden, who named it the Cotton Club.

Johnson's behavior is seen as low by the African-American community, especially by black scholar Booker T. Washington who says "it is unfortunate that a man with money should use it by harming his own people, in the eyes of those who seek to raise his race and improve his condition , I want to say firmly that Jack Johnson's actions do not meet my personal consent and I'm sure they do not meet with the approval of the colored race. "

Johnson ridiculed the convention of the social and economic "place" of blacks in American society. As a black man, he breaks a strong taboo in accompanying white women and will orally mock humans (both white and black) inside and outside the ring. Asking for the secret of his surviving power by a reporter who witnessed a series of women's parades in, and out of, the champion's hotel room, Johnson should have said "Eat the furry eel and think the distant mind".

In 1911 Johnson, through an acquaintance, attempted to become a Freemason in Dundee. Although he was accepted as a member of Forfar and Kincardine Lodge No. 225 in the city, there were many oppositions to his membership, mainly on the basis of his race, and Forfarshire Lodge was suspended by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. Johnson's fees are returned to him and his acknowledgment is considered illegal.

Johnson wrote two memoirs of his life: Mes combats in 1914 and Jack Johnson in Ring and Out in 1927.

In 1943, Johnson attended at least one service at the Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, California. In public conversion, while Detroit, Michigan, burned in race riots, he confessed his faith in Christ in a service performed by evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. He embraced her as "he raised his hand in worship".

Wedding

Johnson is involved in various relationships including three documented marriages. All his wives are white. At the height of his career, Johnson was criticized by the press for his striking lifestyle and marrying white women.

According to Johnson's autobiography of 1927, he married Mary Austin, a black woman from Galveston, Texas. There are no records of this marriage.

While in Philadelphia in 1903, Johnson met Clara Kerr, a black whore. According to Johnson's autobiography, Kerr left him for a friend of Johnson, a horse race coach named William Bryant. They took Johnson jewelry and clothes when they left. Johnson tracked the couple and arrested Kerr for alleged theft. Johnson and Kerr reconciled for a while before he left her again.

During a three-month Australian tour in 1907, Johnson had a brief relationship with Alma "Lola" Toy, a white woman from Sydney. Johnson confirmed to an American journalist that he intended to marry Toy. When the Referee scored Johnson's plan to marry Toy, it caused controversy in Sydney. Toy demanded a retraction and then won a defamation suit from the newspaper.

After returning from Australia, Johnson said that "the desperation of Mary Austin and Clara Kerr led me to lead me to refuse colored women and to determine that my future fate will be cast only with white women."

Johnson met Etta Terry Duryea, a Brooklyn socialite and former wife of Clarence Duryea, in a car race in 1909. In 1910, Johnson hired a private detective to follow Duryea after suspecting he had an affair with his driver. On Christmas Day, Johnson faced Duryea and beat him so badly that he was hospitalized. They were reconciled and married in January 1911. Tending to depression, his condition deteriorated due to Johnson's misuse and unfaithfulness. He committed suicide in September 1912, shooting himself. On December 4, 1912, Johnson married Lucille Cameron. Cameron divorced her in 1924 for an affair.

The following year, Johnson married Irene Pineau. When asked by a reporter at Johnson's funeral about what he loved, he replied, "I love him for his courage, he faces the world without fear, no one or anything he fears."

Prison sentence

On October 18, 1912, Johnson was arrested on the grounds that his relationship with Lucille Cameron violated Mann's Law against "transporting a cross-country woman for immoral purposes" because he became a suspected prostitute. Her mother also swore that her daughter was crazy. Cameron, soon to be his second wife, refused to cooperate and his case was a mess. Less than a month later, Johnson was arrested again on the same charges. This time, the woman, another prostitute named Belle Schreiber, with whom she was involved in 1909 and 1910, testified against it. In the Kenesaw Mountain Landis courtroom, the future Baseball Commissioner who perpetuated the baseball color line until his death, Johnson was convicted by an all-white jury in June 1913, despite the fact that the incident used to punish him happened before part of Mann Law. He was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

Johnson missed the guarantee and left the country, joining Lucille in Montreal on June 25, before fleeing to France. To escape to Canada, Johnson served as a member of the black baseball team. For the next seven years, they lived in exile in Europe, South America and Mexico. Johnson returned to the United States on July 20, 1920. He surrendered to a federal agent on the Mexican border and was sent to the United States Correctional Institution, Leavenworth to serve his sentence in September 1920. He was released on 9 July 1921.

Presidential pardon

There is a recurring proposal to grant Johnson a posthumous presidential pardon. A bill asking President George W. Bush to forgive Johnson in 2008 to ratify the House of Representatives, but failed to pass the Senate. In April 2009, Senator John McCain, along with Peter King's representative, Ken Burns filmmaker and Johnson's nephew, Linda Haywood, asked President Barack Obama's presidential pardon for Johnson. In July of that year, Congress issued a resolution calling for President Obama to issue a pardon. In 2016, another application for Johnson's pardon was issued by McCain, King, Senator Harry Reid, and Congressman Gregory Meeks to President Obama, marking the 70th anniversary of the death of the boxer. This time citing the provisions of the Every Student Success Act, signed by the president in December 2015, in which Congress declared that this big boxing must receive posthumous forgiveness, and voting by the United States Commission on Civil Rights passed unanimously a week before. in June 2016 for "this true one century."

Mike Tyson, Harry Reid and John McCain gave their support for the campaign, initiating a Change.org petition asking President Obama to posthumously forgive the world's first African-American boxing champion from a race-motivated 1913 criminal conviction.

In April 2018, President Donald Trump announced that he was considering Johnson's full pardon after speaking with actor Sylvester Stallone. Trump forgave Johnson on May 24 that year.

Death

On June 10, 1946, Johnson died in a car accident on Highway 1 near Franklinton, North Carolina a small town near Raleigh, after an angry race from a restaurant refusing to serve him. She was taken to the nearest black hospital, Saint Agnes Hospital in Raleigh. He was 68 years old at the time of his death. She is buried next to Etta Duryea Johnson at Graceland Cemetery in Chicago. His grave was initially unmarked, but the stone that only bears the name "Johnson" now stands on the plot of Jack, Etta, and Irene Pineau.

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Legacy

Johnson was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954, and was on the list of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. In 2005, the US National Film Preservation Agency considered the 1910 Johnson-Jeffries struggle film "historically important" and included it in National Film Records.

During his boxing career, Jack Johnson fought 114 fights, winning 80 matches, 45 by knockout.

Johnson's skills as a fighter and the money he carries make it impossible for him to be ignored by the company. In the short term, boxing world reacts to Johnson's legacy. But Johnson foresaw one of the most famous boxers of all time, Muhammad Ali. In fact, Ali often talks about how he was influenced by Jack Johnson. Ali is identified with Johnson because he feels America ostracized him in the same way because of his opposition to the Vietnam War and his affiliation with the Nation of Islam.

In 2002, Moleci scholar Kete Asante enrolled Jack Johnson into the list of 100 Biggest African Americans.

In 2012, the City of Galveston dedicates the park in Johnson's memory as Galveston's most famous native son of Galveston. The park, called Jack Johnson Park, includes a bronze statue of Johnson's body size.

Popular culture

Johnson's story is the basis of the 1970s drama and film The Great White Hope, starring James Earl Jones as Johnson (known as Jack Jefferson in the film), and Jane Alexander as his love interest.

His battle with Tommy Burns turned into a contemporary documentary of The Burns-Johnson Fight in 1908.

In 2005, filmmaker Ken Burns produced a two-part documentary about Johnson's life, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson, based on 2004 nonfiction book of the same name by Geoffrey C. Ward. This book won the Sports Book of William Hill of the Year (2006).

The life of Jack Johnson is the subject of a series of three parts of the podcast History on Fire by historian Daniele Bolelli.

Folksinger and blues singer Lead Belly References Johnson in a song about Titanic: "Jack Johnson wants to join, Captain says I do not haul coal Tariffs, Titanic, win" When Jack Johnson heard the great shock , maybe he saw the man doing Eagle rock. Fare thee, Titanic, drove you well. "(The Eagle Rock was a popular dance at the time.) In 1969, American folk singer Jaime Brockett worked the Belly Lead song into a satirical talking blues called" The Legend of the S.S. Titanic. "There is no convincing proof that Johnson in reality rejected the Titanic part because of his race, as these songs allege.

The end of the 1971 Miles Davis album titled A Tribute to Jack Johnson featured actors Brock Peters (like Johnson) who said:

Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis both have done the soundtrack for a documentary about Johnson. Some hip-hop activists have also reflected Johnson's legacy, especially on The Defender's New Danger album by Mos Def, where songs like "Zimzallabim" and "Blue Black Jack" are devoted to pugilistic hero artists. In addition, the two South punk rock bands This Bike is the Pipe Bomb and alternative country player Tom Russell has a song dedicated to Johnson. Russell's part is a tribute and a biting indictment of the racism that Johnson encounters: "This is where Jack Johnson, like he owns a city, there are many white Americans love to see a man down... like seeing a black man drown. "

"Big Strong Man" or "My Brother Sylveste" is an English-speaking folk tune associated with Ireland referring to the "Jeffries-Johnson fight" of 1910 with the lyrics: "Have you heard of Jeffrey Johnson's fight? Oh, God what a big fight. "The song is popular with Canadian soldiers in World War II.

Johnson is referenced in the movie Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy , and he is mentioned in the 1940 book Native Son by author Richard Wright. Next, 41st street in Galveston is named Jack Johnson Blvd.

Wal-Mart created a controversy in 2006 when DVD buyers were directed from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Planet of the Apes to similar items Unforgivable Blackness: Revival and Jack Johnson's Fall .

Ray Emery of the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL wore a mask with Johnson's image on it as a tribute to his love of boxing.

In the trenches of the First World War, Johnson's name was used by British troops to illustrate the impact of heavy German artillery shells 150 mm in black. In his letters occupied by his wife, Rupert Edward Inglis (1863-1916), a former international rugby who is a Reverend Troops, describes past the city of Albert:

We went through today's venue (October 2, 1915) where the Virgin Statue at the top of the Church was exposed to shells in January. The statue was thrown, but it never fell, I sent you the picture. It was really a beautiful sight. It is incomprehensible how he can live there, but I think it is now lower than when the photo was taken, and will no doubt come down with the next storm. Churches and villages were damaged, there was a huge hole created by Jack Johnson outside the west door of the Church.

Jack Johnson was painted several times by Raymond Saunders.

In Joe R. Lansdale's short story The Big Blow, Johnson is featured against a white boxer brought by Galveston, a Texas boxing fan to defeat African American fighters during Galveston Hurricane 1900. This story won the Bram Stoker Award and expanded into a novel.

In 2011, Jack Johnson is featured on EA Sports Fight Night Champion as a downloadable content on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Johnson is part of the "Legends Pack" with heavyweights Jack Dempsey, Floyd Patterson, Joe Louis, and Rocky Marciano.

Johnson is the main character in the novel The Killings of Stanley Ketchel (2005), by James Carlos Blake.

The Royale , a game by Marco Ramirez, uses Jack Johnson's life as the inspiration for his main character, Jay Jackson. It aired in March 2016 at the Lincoln Center Theater directed by Rachel Chavkin, and was nominated for Awards for Drama for Outstanding Games, Extraordinary Game Director, and Special Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble.

src: infostormer.com

Professional boxing record

src: sydneylivingmuseums.com.au

See also

• List of straight line world champions
• List of heavyweight boxing champions

src: c8.alamy.com

References

87. Papa Jack, Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hope, Randy Roberts, Macmillan, 1983, Chapter 8.

Further reading

• Ocania Chalk, Pioneer of Black Sport. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1975.
• Henry Louis Gates and Cornel West, <-> African-American Ages: How Black Americans have shaped our Country. New York: The Free Press, 2000.
• Theresa Runstedtler, Jack Johnson, Rebel Sojourner: Boxing in the Shadow of the Global Color Line. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2012.

External links

• Professional boxing record for Jack Johnson from BoxRec
• Sporting Mavericks Hall of Fame
• Jack Johnson on Flickr Commons
• unforgivable darkness: The Revival and Fall of Jack Johnson , a 2-part film by Ken Burns and PBS 2005.
• The Unforgiveness of Silence: The Revival and Fall of Jack Johnson , A Review of Ken Burns Documentary.
• Jack Johnson's complete biography
• "The Johnson-Jeffries Fight and Censorship of Black Supremacy", by Barak Orbach.
• Famous Texans - Jack Johnson
• John (Jack) Arthur Johnson
• Harlem 1900-1940: Schomburg Exhibit Jack Johnson (archived)
• ESPN.com: Jack Johnson
• Cyber ​​Boxing Zone â € <â € <- Jack Johnson
• Flashback: Jack Johnson Profiled
• CBS News - Forgiveness for Jack Johnson
• Jack Johnson in the Search of the Mausoleum
• "Jeffries Beat, Drag Out Bleeding". Press Daily , July 5, 1910. Library of the United States Congress.
• BFI, Jack Johnson Paying Visit to Manchester Docks, 1911
• Johnson-Jeffries Fighting: Hundred Years Exhibition, University Library, University of Nevada, Reno.
• Johnson-Jeffries Fight, Reno Historical
• Jack Johnson In Ring and Out, Schalkurg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.

Source of the article : Wikipedia