Consider this the first of many posts in which I extract my head from, um… the sand, to admit to astounding historical ignorance.
Until this morning, I’d never heard of Jack Johnson.
Johnson was boxing’s first black Heavyweight Champion of the World (1908-1915). He’s in the news today because John McCain and others are asking President Obama to give Johnson a posthumous pardon. He went to jail in 1920 for violating the Mann Act, which forbids “transporting white women across state lines for immoral purposes.” The white woman in question was Johnson’s wife.
You can read the Wikipedia article yourself. The racism Johnson encountered during his career is astonishing.
Ever heard the term “Great White Hope?” It was coined by author Jack London, calling for someone to please reclaim the title from Johnson to restore white pride. Former champ James Jeffries took up the call, saying, “I am going into this fight for the sole purpose of proving that a white man is better than a Negro.” Before the fight a ringside band played “All Coons Look Alike to Me.” The all-white crowd chanted “Kill the nigger.” When Johnson won the fight, race riots broke out across the country.
All of this happened less than a hundred years ago. Our grandparents were alive. I assume this is a story many Blacks heard growing up. I did not. I knew about Jack Dempsey, Jimmy Braddock and Max Baer. I’d grown up knowing Ty Cobb and Shoeless Joe Jackson and Babe Ruth. I’m 40 years old and just learned about Jack Johnson today.
I started this blog project wondering how minorities and whites could have such drastically different views of racial progress in America. Um… yeah. That is becoming more clear.
