Posted on 01/20/2005 11:28:41 AM PST by EveningStar
Jack Johnson was a black man who often spent his days beating up white men and his nights making love to white women. This, in the first years of the last century.
So you can understand why he was a polarizing figure, why newspapers inveighed against him and the government conspired to bring him down.
Of course, chances are good that you've never even heard of John Arthur Johnson. As filmmaker Ken Burns pointed out to me in a telephone interview, we are a nation of great historical illiteracy. Ask most people what they know about even so towering a figure as George Washington and you're likely to hear only myths.
"If George Washington can get lost," said Burns, "then Jack Johnson can get lost."
Monday night on PBS, Burns set out to find him. The result is a two-part biography, "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson," that offers a compelling exploration of a singular life.
Johnson was a fighter. He became the first black heavyweight champion in 1908 with an easy knockout of Tommy Burns.
This was at a time when the physical superiority of white men over black ones was widely regarded as self-evident truth, so Johnson's victory was an electric shock to the American psyche. And he kept winning, each victory another poke in the eye for the lie of white supremacy. Former champion Jim Jeffries - five years retired and many pounds overweight - was called upon as the "great white hope" who would put Johnson back in his place. Johnson toyed with him for 15 rounds, then decked him.
No black man with any sense dared look too pleased. As it was, angry whites rioted across the country. Eight people died.
What made matters worse is that Johnson was, as Burns puts it, "the original gangsta," living a bling-bling lifestyle 90 years before that term was coined. In an era that required black men to be circumspect, he was a brash fellow who didn't mind flaunting his wealth. He lived high, drove fast. And if he was attracted to a white woman and she to him, he saw no reason they should not be together. Indeed, he had a bad habit of marrying them.
It all came to a head in 1913, when Johnson was convicted of violating the Mann Act, which made it a federal crime to transport a woman across state lines for illegal purposes. Johnson's "illegal purpose" was to have sex with a white woman.
Not that the government bothered to hide the racism of its motive. As the prosecutor said after the verdict, "This Negro, in the eyes of many, has been persecuted. Perhaps as an individual he was. But it was his misfortune to be the foremost example of the evil in permitting the intermarriage of whites and blacks."
Burns, aided by Sens. John McCain and Edward Kennedy, is petitioning the president for a posthumous pardon on Johnson's behalf. Consider this column my way of adding my name to the list.
Still, I have issues with that word, "pardon," which suggests Johnson requires forgiveness for doing something wrong. His only mistake, if you want to call it that, was in believing that he was a man free like other men, to define himself as he saw fit, live his life on his own terms.
You hear echoes of his story in the stories of O.J. Simpson, Terrell Owens and in a hundred stories that have nothing to do with white women and sex and everything to do with the simple freedom to be.
"Jack Johnson decided to live his life nothing short of a free man," says Burns. "And this is a story of how this country went after him for doing what the Constitution said he had the right to do."
That's why I think we need to be straight about this. It would be good to see Johnson's name cleared. But it's America that should be asking for a pardon.
exactly
CLARIFICATION: The title is "Unforgiveable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson."
From what little I could tell about the films, fighters of that era used a completely different style than today's boxers: Straight up, very little footwork, they carried their gloves a lot lower than nowadays, and most of them looked slow.
Maybe the lack of footwork was because fights lasted a lot longer then, and they couldn't dance around for 20-30 or more rounds.
Johnson and some of the others were physical speciments. Nevertheless, I question whether any of them would last very long in the modern ring using that style. (Let them train and get used to modern methods, and maybe it would be another story.)
Actually these cases seem rather different. Unless the author is accusing Johnson of murdering one of his ex-wives.
Not really, Kenny boy. Gangstas don't smile; Johnson displayed a near-perpetual grin and sunny demeanor. Gangstas are violent misfits who revel in their criminal behavior; Johnson was (mostly) a gentleman. ....except in the ring.
Even moreso because Johnson was self-educated. He never went past the fifth grade.
Spilt milk aimed at white liberal guilt. What a steaming crock ...
You're spot on and Jack Johnson is RIGHT.
I did not see the Burns documentary but I used to be a boxing fan years ago so I know a little about this.
You are right about Johnson. His style was very forward looking. Jeffries was old school, even primative (the same can be said for Corbett and Fitzsimmons).
Ken Burns.Blah,Blah,Blah,
Left Wing Pin Head.
Well yes this essay is IMHO. You can take the Jack Johnson story either way, one can be inspired or one can write bildge like this.
Johnson's style was different than that of others of his era in terms of head movement, footwork, and defensive skills in general. He was a pioneer, and I think we would've been able to hang (without "modern" training methods) with today's heavyweights quite easily.
I agree.... but not for whatever happened to Johnson.. he was asking for controversy.. and got it.. just a great boxer.. maybe the boxing hall of fame or something like that.. His morality sucked.. as bad as Paul Robison's did..
The PARDON from America should be for what they/we did to Joseph McCarthy.. He was a true america HERO, for blacks as well as for whites.. Ann Coulter "exhumed" him and breathed life into the old boy("TREASON").. once again.. McCarthy is being proved right every day.. pBS on the otherhand "dis'ed" McCarthy.. knowing full well of the Venona Papers and research into KGB archives in Russia proving he was more right than, even HE, knew.. McCarthy is a hero that deserves a pardon, Johnson was merely a BOXER.. that deserves to be considered as a good one..
Jack Johnson, The Galveston Giant..."Master of Ring Science"
Johnston really wasn't a "Gangsta" he was more of a "Playah."
Chuck Berry was also prosecuted for violating the Mann Act. He served two years.
Where is HIS pardon?
BTW, the Mann Act makes it a crime to take a minor across state lines for the purpose of prostitution.
Should this antiquated Federal law be done away with since adults and minors can have sex and prostitution is now legal? < /sarcasm >
Exactly.
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