[DiogenesLamp]

The initial history that I have read on the subject mentioned none of that. That does tend to throw a different light on it.

I had heard that the charges were the consequence of his taking his own wife across state lines.

[Simon Foxx]

The charges were the consequence of his taking a WHITE woman across state lines.

His pardon was LONG overdue. The racism directed at Johnson (for beating the white boxers and becoming the first black heavyweight boxing champion) was real, and it was an outrage.