Jack Johnson Had a 10 Year Unbeaten Record Jack Arthur Johnson, affectionately known as "Lil’ Arthur", who became heavyweight champion of the world in 1908 destroying the coloured barrier by stopping Tommy Burns in 14 rounds to become the first black heavyweight boxing champion. He had a 10 year unbeaten streak during which time he defeated all of the top fighters of the period. He fought the other highly avoided black fighters of his day, including the clever master strategist Joe Jeannette ten times, the hard punching Sam McVey three times, and gave the great Sam Langford a beating in their only meeting. Jack Johnson's championship reign covered the years 1908 to1915 when the giant “white hope” Jess Willard finally defeated him. Jack Johnson is widely regarded as the greatest defensive heavyweight boxer of all time. The key to understanding the defensive mastery of men like Johnson, Joe Gans, and George Dixon comes in their ability to block an opponent's leads. Jack Johnson received bad publicity by the press for his two marriages, both to Caucasian women. Due to the racist attitudes of the times, interracial marriages were prohibited in most of America. African-Americans Was Not Allowed Near The Championship Belt For Over 20 Years.Johnson was convicted in 1912 of violating the Mann Act by transporting his wife across state lines before their marriage and was sentenced to a year in prison. While out on appeal Jack Johnson escaped fearing for his safety. Posing as a member of a black baseball team, he fled to Canada and later Europe. Jack Johnson remained a fugitive for seven years. Johnson defended his heavyweight championship three times in Paris before his fight to Jess Willard. After his championship days, Johnson was never allowed any chance to regain his championship title and for many white Americans, he was man soon to be forgotten. His accomplishments could not be ignored but after his championship reigns, no African-Americans were allowed near the championship belt for over 20 years. History has judged Johnson and they found him to be a great champion. Representative James Mann gave White promoters used the legal tool to stop Johnson but they could never take away the fact that a black man for seven years was the reigning heavyweight champion and the best boxer fighter in the world. Samuel Eliot Morrison wrote, “The Negro’s daughters were free to all the lusty white lads of the neighbourhood and nothing was done about it; but if a African-American leered at a white girl, it was of a notoriously low morals. Jack Johnson's Message Was Clear, “You Can't Intimidate Me."The blackman was liable to be lynched by a mob in defense of the alleged purity of Southern womanhood. Jack Johnson found white women more to his liking as he said, “Every coloured lady I ever went with two-timed me, and white girls didn’t.” And when he was not busy bedding white women, he was beating white heavyweights. He did not just beat his opponent; he taunted and tortured them before beating them. Ring Lardner described Jack Johnson as that “grinning Negro whose delight was in whipping Caucasian fighters with taunts pouring from his mouth.” During his training in Reno, he openly appeared with his white wife. The message was clear, “you cannot intimidate me.” It could have been worse. Jack Johnson could have been lynched. In what was known as the Jim Crow period. Over 2500 African-Americans were lynched and no fewer than 50 were lynched on an annual basis. In 1908, just a half a mile from the home of Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Virginia, two African-Americans were lynched and their property was destroyed. As Samuel Eliot Morrison wrote in the Oxford History of the American People. The common excuse for lynching is that it was restored only for rape, or attempted rape, of white women. In America It Was A Crime To Be Born BlackThe statistics prove that sexual assaults were not even alleged in more than one case in five, and that many of those lynched for it were innocent or the alleged assault was imaginary. The truth of the matter was; in America it was a crime in itself to be born black. ”Representative Mann fought for women’s suffrage, and in 1910, he pushed a bill that bears his name preventing, under heavy penalties, the transportation of women from one state to another for immoral purposes. This act began, as a movement to cripple prostitution, but would end up as the bill that would prohibit consensual sexual conduct outside of marriage. In the early part of the century, the prohibition movement extended from a movement to ban alcoholic beverages, recreational drugs and other vices like sex. Fornication was made illegal in many states. By 1920, nearly half of the states regarded habitual consensual sex a punishable act and in many of these states, one act was enough to bring a conviction. Widespread prohibition against all aspects of sexual activity made enforcement impossible and many juries proved unwilling to convict for illegal sex acts. The only other person ever to be convicted was Charlie Chaplin. |
Joe Louis: Second Black Heavyweight ChampionJack Johnson, when he became champion, scandalised America. After his career in boxing, Johnson, an amateur cellist and bull-fiddler who was a connoisseur of Harlem night life, eventually opened his own supper club, Club Deluxe, at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue. He also lectured, sold stocks, and worked as a movie extra. Johnson spent the remaining years of his life writing, engaged in business endeavours. Johnson, who loved to race fancy cars, died as the result of an automobile accident near Raleigh, North Carolina, in June 1946. As Jack Johnson was being buried, the World Heavyweight Championship Belt was in the hands of another black fighter. Joe Louis the "Brown Bomber." | |
