Jack Johnson: Bad Motha Fo
I've always really liked the boxer Jack Johnson's story, so I thought, since I have nothing better to do with my life (other than the gutters, the broken window, the lawn...), I would do a short bio of his life.
Jack Johnson was born in in Galveston, Texas in 1878. His parents had been slaves, but Johnson believed he deserved a life equal to whites, and proceeded to carve that out for himself through his skills at boxing.
Up until 1908, the white heavyweight champions refused to fight blacks. This is unsurprising, consider that Jackie Robinson didn't enter baseball until 1947. But boxing's interest was waning in the public eye. The last great champion, Jim Jeffries, retired in 1904 and was replaced by the unimpressive Tommy Burns. Boxing needed to draw fans and Jack Johnson was considered the best fighter of the time.
So Tommy Burns made the fateful error of agreeing to fight Johnson, who proceeded to kick his Lilly-white ass (1908). The country was aghast. The toughest man in the country was now a black man. And to make matters much worse, Johnson proceeded to piss everyone off as much as possible by openly having sex and marrying white women. He was also cocky. In the ring he was known to heckle his white opponents, even at times asking the crowd what round he should knock them out in.
The white world responded by starting the search for a"Great White Hope" (the movie/play was based on this) to return the belt to its rightful pale owners. They decided on the retired ex-champion Jim Jeffries, who was clear he was only coming out of retirement to fix the mistake that Johnson had become. Unfortunately for Jeffries, he was no match for Johnson, who played around with him before knocking him out in the 15th round.
Since he couldn't be beaten in the ring, the authorities decided to arrest him. First in 1912 for the "kidnapping" of Lucille Cameron, a white prostitute and sometime stenographer. The case was impossible to prove because she was in love with Johnson (he'd had an affair with her) and she refused to testify against him. In 1913 they were able get him for violating the Mann Act, which forbade transporting women across state lines for "immoral" activities. It was basically a morality law to try to curb prostitution and was rarely prosecuted. Johnson was convicted under it though and was given the unheard of, for such a minor offence, conviction of 1 year and a day in prison.
Well Johnson wasn't going to have any of that, so he fled the authorities who were watching him (probably bribed them) and fled to Europe, where he continued to be champion even though he was now a convicted felon. Although the boxing commission considered it, they did not strip him of his title; they still wanted a white man to do that.
That chance came against the big clumsy Kansas farmer Jess Willard, who ended Johnson's reign of terror on white society in Havana in 1915. Johnson later claimed the fight had been fixed and that he had purposely lost. But watchers of the fight said Johnson was just overmatched as age and not keeping in good shape had caught up to him. Willard knocked Johnson out in the 26th round of the fight.
There are so many things to like about Johnson's story: him being the first black champion, him doing what he wanted, him sticking it to the man... But what I find most interesting is that he is this total historical anomaly. The United States was not even close to being ready for a black champion. And he did not start a trend. Jack Dempsey (who quickly grab the title form Willard) refused to fight black fighters, and we wouldn't have another black champ until Joe Louis in 1937 (who, consequently, assured the public constantly he wouldn't be another Jack Johnson). And, again, the huge story of Jackie Robinson happened 39 years after Johnson was champion. Johnson should not have ever been champion. But since he did, we get to see just how much he was able to shake up America.
Jack Johnson was born in in Galveston, Texas in 1878. His parents had been slaves, but Johnson believed he deserved a life equal to whites, and proceeded to carve that out for himself through his skills at boxing.
Up until 1908, the white heavyweight champions refused to fight blacks. This is unsurprising, consider that Jackie Robinson didn't enter baseball until 1947. But boxing's interest was waning in the public eye. The last great champion, Jim Jeffries, retired in 1904 and was replaced by the unimpressive Tommy Burns. Boxing needed to draw fans and Jack Johnson was considered the best fighter of the time.
So Tommy Burns made the fateful error of agreeing to fight Johnson, who proceeded to kick his Lilly-white ass (1908). The country was aghast. The toughest man in the country was now a black man. And to make matters much worse, Johnson proceeded to piss everyone off as much as possible by openly having sex and marrying white women. He was also cocky. In the ring he was known to heckle his white opponents, even at times asking the crowd what round he should knock them out in.
The white world responded by starting the search for a"Great White Hope" (the movie/play was based on this) to return the belt to its rightful pale owners. They decided on the retired ex-champion Jim Jeffries, who was clear he was only coming out of retirement to fix the mistake that Johnson had become. Unfortunately for Jeffries, he was no match for Johnson, who played around with him before knocking him out in the 15th round.
Since he couldn't be beaten in the ring, the authorities decided to arrest him. First in 1912 for the "kidnapping" of Lucille Cameron, a white prostitute and sometime stenographer. The case was impossible to prove because she was in love with Johnson (he'd had an affair with her) and she refused to testify against him. In 1913 they were able get him for violating the Mann Act, which forbade transporting women across state lines for "immoral" activities. It was basically a morality law to try to curb prostitution and was rarely prosecuted. Johnson was convicted under it though and was given the unheard of, for such a minor offence, conviction of 1 year and a day in prison.
Well Johnson wasn't going to have any of that, so he fled the authorities who were watching him (probably bribed them) and fled to Europe, where he continued to be champion even though he was now a convicted felon. Although the boxing commission considered it, they did not strip him of his title; they still wanted a white man to do that.
That chance came against the big clumsy Kansas farmer Jess Willard, who ended Johnson's reign of terror on white society in Havana in 1915. Johnson later claimed the fight had been fixed and that he had purposely lost. But watchers of the fight said Johnson was just overmatched as age and not keeping in good shape had caught up to him. Willard knocked Johnson out in the 26th round of the fight.
There are so many things to like about Johnson's story: him being the first black champion, him doing what he wanted, him sticking it to the man... But what I find most interesting is that he is this total historical anomaly. The United States was not even close to being ready for a black champion. And he did not start a trend. Jack Dempsey (who quickly grab the title form Willard) refused to fight black fighters, and we wouldn't have another black champ until Joe Louis in 1937 (who, consequently, assured the public constantly he wouldn't be another Jack Johnson). And, again, the huge story of Jackie Robinson happened 39 years after Johnson was champion. Johnson should not have ever been champion. But since he did, we get to see just how much he was able to shake up America.
posted by chuckdaddy2000 at 11:54 am
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